WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND
by TWDfan
Summary: In Warriors of the Walking Dead, we see characters spin off from the Walking Wounded, Wounded Warriors, and Warriors Way Trilogy as they continue their story of survival, friendship, and love. Deciding to carve out a home for themselves despite orders from the military to move, the group from Atlanta and their new friends must fight for a place in the world.
1. Chapter 1

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

(Hey! Hey! The Gang's All Here)

CHAPTER ONE

Katelyn lay on her side, gazing down into her beautiful daughter's eyes. Lifting her delicate fingers, she smiled at how tiny they were and leaned down to nibble on them making little Hope squeal with delight.

"I thought I heard my girls." Daryl voice called out from outside their tent as he moved the flap aside and entered, taking in the gorgeous picture of Katelyn and Hope lying together as mother and daughter.

Smiling, he flopped down on the mat next to them, leaning forward to kiss Katelyn's forehead tenderly. Looking down at his daughter, he reached out his hand and gently stroked her soft, fuzzy head.

"Madeline's leaving tomorrow." He said, looking at Katelyn.

"Did they find others?" Katelyn asked, hopeful that Major Reese had managed to locate other groups that were working on a way to fight the plague.

"I guess there's a group in the mountains in Switzerland where they've been working on it and they need her information so they're gonna fly her over there tomorrow." He explained, tickling Hope's feet, making her squirm and squeal happily.

Katelyn smiled lovingly at Daryl and reached out her hand to cup the back of his head. Pulling him gently forward, their lips met over their adorable, gurgling daughter who immediately shrieked with delight as if the love her parents shared was acknowledged by her.

"She approves." Daryl teased, picking up the happy bundle and cuddling her to his chest.

"She has good taste." Katelyn said, smiling at the picture Daryl and Hope made.

There was a knock on the tent pole, making both of them turn and look.

"Come in." Katelyn called, smiling when she saw Carol walk through.

"How's my darling baby?" She asked, cooing at Hope.

Katelyn stood up and Daryl placed Hope into Carol's outstretched arms. He knew how much she meant to her and he and Katelyn asked Carol if she would be her godmother. Carol, of course, cried and said yes. They hadn't decided who to ask to be godfather yet. There was a lot of discussion about Rick, but it was Katelyn who brought up Merle.

Daryl had been surprised, the two of them having never talked about what happened with Merle. He thought for sure, that she wouldn't want him around at all, and because of that, Merle'd kept a respectful distance from her, but Katelyn had forgiven him.

Katelyn hugged Carol, and ducked out of the tent.

"I'll be back in a while." She called out to Daryl whose face took on a puzzled expression as he watched her go. He wasn't sure what she was up to.

Kate went quickly across the gym to the doors that led out to the fenced play yard outside, knowing that's where Merle usually hung out so he could smoke. Making her way toward him, she nodded at the others who were outside as she passed by.

"Merle." Katelyn called out, causing Merle to drop his cigarette in surprise.

Merle looked around comically, as if she might be looking for another "Merle" who happened to be right next to him.

"Can we talk?" Katelyn asked, feeling a little shy and unsure of the conversation she wanted to have with him.

"Uh…yeah." Merle said, scratching his head with puzzlement.

"Walk with me?" She asked, motioning for them to walk the fenceline.

Merle moved awkwardly, unsure of what was happening.

"I get it." She stated.

"Uh…get what?" Merle asked, truly not understanding.

"Why you wanted to talk to me that day." She said, looking straight ahead.

"You do?" He asked, stumbling a little as he tried to figure out where this was going.

"Yeah. You love Daryl." She said, stopping to look at him.

He didn't say anything.

"You love him as best as you can and you thought I was a threat to that…to him, because you think love makes you weak." She said pointedly, piercing his soul with her gaze.

Merle continued to be silent, looking down at the mother of his niece.

"You were going to try to convince me to break it off with him." She accused gently.

Merle decided to tell her the truth. He was interested to see where this conversation was going.

"Yeah." He said.

Katelyn nodded.

"And if I'd refused?" She asked quietly.

"I would have found a way to make him hate you." He told her honestly.

"And what changed your mind?" She asked.

"I don't know." Merle shrugged, not having an answer.

"When you…panicked…I panicked. I fell back on old habits. I don't know what I would have done but I've done some pretty awful things in the past." He said to her, inferring that he might have killed her.

"It was about survival for you. You and Daryl against the world. I get it." She said.

"Something like that." He answered, trying to figure out just what kind of person this woman was. He'd never met anyone like her and he wasn't sure what to make of her. He'd accepted her because Daryl clearly loved her, but he didn't get her.

"You would do anything…even kill, to protect him…" She said, her voice lowering to a deadly tone. "I would do anything to protect him as well…and our daughter…your niece. I expect that the love you have for Daryl would extend to his child as well?"

Merle's brows narrowed in confusion as he took in what she was saying.

"Will you love her like you love Daryl?" She asked, her look so intense that it made Merle uncomfortable.

Merle thought about it for a minute. Thought about the only other member of the Dixon family; Hope. His niece. He understood what she was asking him; Would he kill to protect little Hope…even if it made him vulnerable?

"Yeah." He said simply, looking her in the eye again. It was the first time Katelyn had ever seen past the shade that covered his eyes, allowing her to peer into his soul.

Katelyn nodded, staring at him for a moment longer, then turned to leave. Pausing, she turned back to him and said;

"You can stay then."

And with that, she went back inside, leaving Merle standing outside staring at a closed door.

_What the hell had just happened?_ He wondered.

#################################################################################

Rachel, Andrea, and Michonne stood in front of the ammunitions table, listening as Major Reese instructed them on how to assemble and disassemble an M-16.

"All right, ladies. Your turn." Major Reese stated, turning the table over to them.

All three of them dove into their task, tearing apart the weapon as if they were devouring it, before putting it back together and pulling the trigger to show that they worked.

Jackson whistled appreciatively.

"Best students I ever had." He said, chuckling as he checked all of them.

"What's next?" Andrea asked cockily, grinning ear to ear at their quick aptitude with the weapons he'd shown them.

"I'm gonna have to create a unit of all the ferocious women of the Limon Amazons. Woe to any man who crosses you." He smirked causing the women to laugh.

He was impressed with how tough they were, but also at their intelligence and compassion. They had all been through hell and somehow managed to keep their souls intact. It wasn't something he came across much.

After Afghanistan, he'd seen men come home shells of their former selves. War had a way of destroying your spirit piece by piece until there was little difference between them and the walking dead. Though Rachel was new to the group, she threw herself into helping in any way she could. As a nurse, she'd become a vital member of the operation here and strong leader to the community that was being built here.

She'd come to talk to him a few days earlier about creating just that; a community, here in Limon. They'd clear out an area in the city, build a wall around it, and dig out a life for themselves and those who'd survived. He'd thought it was a great idea and put her to work. She'd immediately recruited the Atlanta group who was desperate to create a life for themselves, and a few other stragglers that had nowhere else to go.

They began the operation next week and he was determined to help all that he could. Unfortunately, he'd also received orders from command that would be moving their command. Something that he'd been dreading.

He didn't know what to do.


	2. Chapter 2

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER TWO

Major Jackson Reese slammed the phone down and placed him palms flat on the desk, leaning his head down so he could take a few deep breaths and cool off. He was furious. US Command was ordering everyone back to east coast and they weren't listening to reason. They didn't care that he had people to protect.

Andrea was standing outside the door, about to know, when she heard the phone get slammed down. Pausing, she listened, waiting to see if he was done, before walking in.

Jackson looked up, trying to reign in his fury.

"Rough day?" Andrea asked, her eyebrows arching at him.

"Yeah." He said, exasperation dripping from his voice.

"Anything I can help with?" She asked, sitting down in the chair in front of his desk.

"I wish." He said, sitting back down in his. "What can I do for you, Andrea?"

"Well, Michonne and I have found a good spot to begin building the fence but we're gonna need barricades in order to start work on it." She explained, hoping he'd volunteer men to help them.

Jackson took a deep breath and sighed.

"That's not good." She commented, seeing the look on his face.

"I've got 100 men that aren't doing anything. I'll put Sgt. Ames on it. You just tell her what you want done." He said.

Andrea smiled. She'd been expecting bad news.

"Thank you!" She said, smiling as she got up and left.

Jackson watched her leave, wondering what he was going to do. Without their battalion, they'd go back to fighting tooth and claw for survival and that was something he couldn't live with.

"What do I do, Jen?" He whispered to the air, asking his deceased wife for help. "What do I do?"

#################################################################################

Rick held Judith's hands as she bounced up and down in front of him. He smiled at her, thinking how much she looked like Lori with her dark, curly hair and pale skin. Carl sat on the ground across from him, laughing at her antics.

Neither one heard Rachel and Andrea approach.

"Hey." Andrea called. "We've got the spot. The Major's gonna give us 100 men to build the barricade."

Rick stopped, laying Judith back down on the ground so she could crawl around. Standing, he walked over to the two women.

"Let's go see it." He said, smiling at them.

Rick, Michonne, Andrea, Rachel, and Daryl stood in front of the car, looking around them. It was a housing development just outside of town with a gate and wall already built in. There were undeveloped areas so they could grow crops and lots of open space. They'd already dug the well so they could get water and the Major had multiple generators that could be used to power the area.

"Good call." Rick said, nodding in approval. "Any walkers?"

"A few, but it looks like they wandered in. No one lived here. The houses were just being built." Michonne answered.

"That back area's open." Rick said, pointing to the unfinished wall of the development.

"That's what the troops are for." Andrea said, standing with her hands on her hips.

Rick nodded, taking in the area, thinking it a perfect place…if, they were to stay in Colorado.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked, seeing the look on his face.

Rick didn't answer right away.

"We're just so far away from home." He said, thinking about all of the people they loved that were buried back in Georgia. Somehow, he felt homesick because they were there.

Rachel smiled sadly. She understood that sentiment. She'd been taken by Breed 6 months ago from Omaha. She'd been taking care of a group of people who'd been patients and survived with the help of some of the hospital staff. Then Breed came through town and it was their dumb luck that Breed found them.

He killed anyone who resisted and took her with to stick in his brothel. Right away, she'd been an intentional pain in the ass, but it became clear after a couple of brutal beatings, that he meant business. Once she'd arrived at the farm, she knew what she'd have to do to survive and decided to help the other girls as best as she could. It was either that, or die.

"Noone's saying you can't go back someday. This is just for now." Rachel said, placing a hand on Rick comfortingly.

Rick bit his lip and held back the tears that threatened to fall, nodding in agreement. Turning, he smiled at her a little before getting back into the car. The whole way back to the base, he told himself what Rachel had said to him over and over.

He could always go back.

###############################################################################

Rachel waited until everyone else had left the garage but she and Andrea.

"Andrea? Hold up." She called out, catching up with her.

"What happened to him…to Rick, I mean?" Rachel asked quietly.

Andrea's eyebrows lifted knowingly, turning to watch Rick walk down the hallway toward the gymnasium.

"His wife, Lori, was one of the original group." Andrea said, smiling sadly as she thought about all of the people they'd lost.

"I wasn't there when it happened, but Lori was pregnant with Judith when they were at the prison. A group of walkers got into the compound and Lori was forced to give birth in the furnace room. They…uh, had to do a C-Section without any supplies cuz they were stuck in there. Lori knew she was gonna die and…" Andrea paused, taking a deep breath, "…Maggie delivered the baby and Carl had to shoot his own mom."

Even Andrea, as tough as she was, blinked back tears at the thought.

"Rick was delivered his baby but not his wife that day." Andrea said softly before turning and walking back inside.

Rachel stood silently for a moment, letting tears fall for all the loss that was suffered in this world. As a geriatric nurse, she'd seen so many deaths that you'd think she'd be used to them, but it never got easy. Hospice nurses were unique, with equal amounts of reverence for the lives their patients lived, and the deaths that all of them faced. She had shed tears with many families and knew that withholding grief was an insult to the life that was lost, so she always allowed herself those moments.

She waited until it passed, thinking about Carl and what he must've gone through. He always seemed like such a strong little boy, but it made her wonder what he was hiding.

With that thought, she wandered inside to find him.

Looking around the gym, she searched all over but couldn't find him. Heading for the "Atlanta Tent" as everyone called it, which was now more like a tent city, she saw Carol and approached.

"Hey Rachel!" Carol called out with a friendly smile on her face. They hadn't had much time to talk, but Carol liked Rachel. There was something soulful about her, like she could just look at you and see right into your heart.

"Hi Carol!" Rachel called back. She liked Carol a lot. With her sweet spirit and kind, sincere heart. She was a rare beauty, on the inside and out.

"Have you seen Carl?" Rachel asked quietly as she got closer.

Carol stopped folding the sheets and looked at her, alarm on her face.

"No…it's nothing to worry about. I just wanted to ask him something." Rachel rushed to put Carol's mind at ease.

"Oh…okay. You scared me. Carl's never where he's supposed to be." Carol chuckled.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked, puzzled.

"Oh, Lori'd tell him to stay…" Carol paused, not wanting to bring up her dead friend.

"It's okay. I know about Rick's wife." Rachel assured her, trying to make her more comfortable.

"Well, she used to tell him to stay in the house, so what did he do?...He'd leave the house. You'd tell him to stay in the camper and low and behold…Carl wasn't there. Used to drive her crazy." Carol chuckled at the memory. "She thought he was just going through a lot so she never made a big deal out of it but…"

"But what?" Rachel asked softly.

"I think it was more than that. There was a lot of stuff that was going on." Carol replied, not wanting to get into the sordid details of Lori and Shane's affair.

"He was just confused." Carol said, turning back to stack the folded sheets.

"Then Lori died…?" Rachel sat down, prompting Carol to talk a little more. She knew she was being nosy but she felt like she was walking on eggshells sometimes around Rick and wanted to understand. Everyone looked up to him so much and she wanted to know why.

"Then Lori died giving birth to Judith and poor Carl…it was just him and Maggie there. They didn't have a choice…and Rick…it broke him. He's never been the same." Carol brushed the tears from under her eyes.

"God. I'm so sorry." Rachel said quietly, smiling sadly at Carol as tears sprang to her eyes. She'd never been able to let someone cry alone.

Carol smiled at her.

"What about you? What's your story?" Carol asked, grabbing another sheet to fold.

Rachel stood, grabbing the other end of it to help her.

"My story's much more boring." Rachel said dismissively. She was great at hearing other people's pain, but not so good at sharing her own. That's part of what made her so good at what she did. She could listen to other people in the midst of the worst pain in their lives and they were so wrapped up in it, that no one ever thought to ask her about her own pain. It wasn't something that she'd intended to do, but somewhere in the years following her chosen profession, after many failed relationships, she'd figured it out.

"Yeah?" Carol asked, looking up while she stacked the next folded sheet.

Rachel shrugged.

"Yeah." She said, grabbing another sheet.

"If you say so." Carol said, but it was obvious that she didn't quite believe her, making Rachel smile a little.

"I'll drop it…for now." Carol said, smiling back at her.

"But I'll get it out of you yet." Carol continued, chuckling at her new friend.


	3. Chapter 3

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER THREE

Sara walked slowly toward Merle who stood along the back fenceline, looking out into the open space. When she'd first met Merle, he scared her. Unlike Daryl, he didn't seem to have a conscience, but somewhere along the roadtrip, she found that she liked his sense of humor. Where Daryl was serious most of the time, Merle was actually funny…dark…but funny.

"Whatcha doin'?" Sara asked him, grabbing the chain-link fence with her hands and twisting so she could see him.

"Calculating the mathematical formula for 'nothin'" He said sarcasatically, spitting on the ground away from her feet.

Sara burst out laughing, earning her a glare from Merle.

"Since…you're in such a good mood…" she began, smirking at his attempt at intimidating her with his stare, "…I thought maybe you'd like to go for a walk."

Merle snorted.

"Do I look like the sort that goes for walks?" He snarled.

Sara screwed up her face, looking him up and down and without missing a beat, she said, "Well, you might be missing one of your arms, but you still got both legs, so yeah, I guess you do."

Merle rolled his eyes at her.

"Smart ass." He grumbled.

"Is that a yes?" She asked sassily.

"Oh for Christ's sake! Fine. If it'll shut you up." Merle snapped, mumbling under his breath.

"Awesome!" She cheered, grabbing him around the neck and kissing him on the cheek, leaving Merle standing there dumbfounded as she grabbed his hand, dragging him toward the doorway.

Andrea watched them go, shaking her head and smirking.

Maybe there was hope for Merle Dixon yet.

################################################################################

Jackson sat in the command barracks, drinking whiskey from a flask. Lieutenant Pete Chesarek sat across from him as they talked quietly.

"So what do we do?" Pete asked.

"I don't know. The world's gone to shit. I don't even know who's really in command. There's no president, no SECDEF, nothing. It's every man for himself and we're sitting here pretending to play GI Joe like it's just like it used to be." Jackson said, uncharacteristically negative.

"You know we'll follow you to hell, sir." His lieutenant stated passionately. "You just say the word."

"I'm not asking you to follow me to hell. I'm asking you to defy a direct order from our commanding officer, go AWOL, and possibly be considered traitors." Jackson said, leaning forward, his tone turning serious.

"I know what you're asking me to do, and I'm telling you, I'll follow you to hell, or stay here, not that there's much difference nowadays. You and I've been through far too much together. I know the kind of man you are and so do the men. We don't know what's going on back in Washington and we don't know those Generals." Pete said.

Jackson looked at him and nodded. He appreciated the trust, but he hoped that it wasn't misplaced. He would never consider this normally, but the world had fallen apart and circumstances were unusual. He wasn't sure there was such a thing as black and white anymore and he couldn't ignore the people under his protection.

He had to make a choice between following orders and doing the right thing.

In the end, it was himself that he had to live with.

Throwing back the rest of the whiskey, he stood up, ordering Pete to assemble the men, while he went to take care of something.

Walking out of his room, he headed straight for the Atlanta Tent. Carol, Andrea, Daryl and Katelyn stood outside, smiling as he approached. When they saw his facial expression, they all became serious.

"What's up?" Daryl called out.

"Can you get your group rounded up? I need to speak with all of you." He said quietly, trying not to let anyone else overhear.

Carol nodded and she and Andrea went to grab everyone. Katelyn pulled the tent flap aside so they could go inside.

"What's goin' on?" Daryl asked, looking at Katelyn with concern.

"I'll explain as soon as everyone gets here." Jackson said ominously.

Rick and Tyreese came quickly, followed by the others as everyone filtered into the tent. No one knew what was going to be said but everyone had a feeling that it wasn't going to be good.

"I've got some news." Jackson said, addressing the gathered group.

"All right." Rick said.

"Our battalion has been called back east." Jackson said, frowning as he talked.

"Oh my god." Andrea said, understanding what the implication of that was.

"I'm gonna be telling my men here shortly, and rumors are gonna start spreading. I need you guys to help me keep everyone calm. All the survivors trust you and look to you for leadership." Jackson stated.

"Hell! Washington wants you guys to just up and leave everybody here?" Daryl spat out, disgusted with the government.

Jackson sighed.

"Here's the deal. Lt. Chesarek and I are staying. We're going to give the men the choice. We'll support anyone who decides to go back and keep anyone who wants to stay, but they're risking courtmarshall by disobeying orders if they do stay." The Major explained.

"Doesn't that mean, you're risking courtmarshall?" Andrea asked.

Jackson looked down at the ground.

"Yeah." He said, finally looking up at all of them. "But I can't leave all these people here unprotected."

Rick and Daryl looked at each other. Everyone started glancing around to gauge the reactions of the others.

Rick nodded, stepping forward.

"We'll do what we can." He said, patting Major Reese on the shoulder.

Katelyn smiled sadly at the Major and squeezed his arm as she walked over to pick up Hope.

Everyone started talking to each other at once, posing questions that couldn't be answered, but finally, everyone started filtering out.

After everyone finally left, Rick, Daryl, and the Major were the only ones left.

"So what can we expect?" Daryl asked, waiting for everyone to leave before he asked the tough questions.

"I don't honestly know. With everything in such disarray, possibly nothing." Jackson answered honestly.

"But…" Rick said, "…there could be a response."

"Sure, but if they had the ability to move on things that quickly, they would've." Jackson assured him. "The reality is that we probably won't see anything until we have a handle on the whole walker problem. After that's taken care of, then, I'll be answering for it."

"You're giving up a lot for a bunch of people you don't even know." Rick said.

"You sure you wanna do this?" Daryl asked.

"I have no choice." Jackson said, looking them in the eye. "I couldn't live with myself if I abandoned everyone who depended on me. The military taught me honor, even if that honor sometimes gets in the way. I can't turn my back on that."

"Thank you." Rick said sincerely, knowing that words couldn't express how appreciative they were. He knew that the people Jackson was choosing to stand by might never understand, but the Atlanta group would.

All of them would know what he'd sacrificed to save them all.


	4. Chapter 4

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER FOUR

Rick and Daryl stood at the back of the courtyard as the soldiers assembled. The Major stood up on a stand with a microphone so they could all hear him. Rick and Daryl both had a feeling of trepidation as they awaited the announcement.

"All right everyone, listen up. I've gotten orders from a General Sorenson that we're to mobilize and move out by the end of the week. They are recalling all units back to Washington." Major Reese announced, telling them the main point right off the bat.

There was some murmuring amongst the men.

"Hold up. I'm not done." He said, his voice getting quiet and intense.

"I need to tell you guys something and It's important…" He paused, taking a deep breath. "When I signed up for the military, I wanted to be a hero. I quickly learned that all of us, and yet none of us were heroes. That we rise and fall as a Core, however today we have a decision to make. We have 600 people whose lives depend on us that will be left behind if we go. These people didn't sign up for this, and frankly, neither did we, but we're faced with a rare moment. In the chaos of what the world has become, we have a choice to make. Do we follow the orders that have been given or do we stay and protect the people we swore to protect?"

Jackson took a moment, taking a deep breath as tears popped into his eyes.

"My wife and child died 3 days into this…plague. I know that all of us, have lost loved ones that we'd do anything to get back. Today, you have the choice to save someone else's loved ones. Today, we have the choice to be the hero we all signed up to be. Now it's up to you. I will support you either way, and I will understand your decision. There is honor in both, but as for me…I will be staying here." He finished, stepping off the stage and leaving a stunned crowd standing behind him.

Daryl looked at Rick and saw the raw emotion in his eyes and knew he was thinking of Lori. Daryl put his hand on Rick's shoulder and walked back inside as the stunned soldiers began to talk amongst themselves.

###############################################################################

Andrea and Rachel stood with Michonne, Katelyn, and Carol, watching the scene unfold. They knew that the outcome of this situation would determine the fate of many people under the protection of Major Reese's battalion.

"What d'ya thinks gonna happen?" Carol asked, turning to face the women.

"See how quickly that group over there is leaving." Andrea said, pointing toward a large portion of the men.

"Yeah." Carol said, puzzled.

"They're completely loyal to him. Their minds were made up the minute he said what he was gonna do. The rest of them…I don't know." Andrea shrugged thinking how much she liked Major Reese. Maybe too much.

In some ways, he reminded her of Rick…in the early days. Moral, upstanding, and brave. A man who stood up for what he believed in. The difference, however, was in the "big world"-"small town" viewpoint. Where Rick was happy living a small life in a small town where he knew everyone, Jackson wanted to save the world.

Andrea smirked, looking at Rachel.

"What are you smirkin' at?" Rachel asked, her smile broadening.

"I was just thinking how good Major Reese looks in his camis." Andrea commented off-handedly.

Rachel chuckled, but when Michonne chimed in with;

"Mmmm hmmmm." They all burst out laughing.

No one had ever seen Michonne smile, let alone joke which made them all laugh harder.

"I didn't think you noticed stuff like that." Andrea said elbowing Michonne playfully.

"I'm pissy…not dead." Michonne joked back, walking through the doorway and back into the building.

It only made them laugh harder.

That's how Daryl found them.

Approaching them with an expression that said it all, Daryl wandered over confused.

"What the hell's so funny?" He asked, thinking they'd all gone crazy. Before Michonne went inside, he could swear he saw her smile. He thought her face would crack if that ever happened.

"We were just appreciating our fine men in uniform." Andrea said suggestively causing Carol and Katelyn to burst out laughing again.

Daryl frowned and Katelyn tried to stifle her guffaws but it only made it worse.

"Woman, I don't know what you're laughin' at!" Daryl snapped, only half irritated. He liked to see her laughing so he couldn't really get mad.

"Is Rick okay?" Rachel managed to ask, after she got her giggles under control.

"Define 'okay'", Daryl said.

"Don't be difficult." Katelyn smacked his arm playfully causing Daryl to grunt. She put her arms around him and squeezed, letting him know that the only man she was interested in looking at, was him.

And it worked to.

Andrea rolled her eyes at how easy men were.

"He'll be all right. Give him time." Daryl said, almost sweetly causing Andrea and Carol to smirk.

Who'd a thought Daryl Dixon could be tamed.

Rachel nodded, but her gaze followed him.

Carol nudged Andrea, nodding toward Rachel's gaze and the two shared a glance of understanding.

"Told you." Carol whispered at Andrea.

Rachel smiled at Daryl and excused herself.

"Where's she off to?" Daryl asked, confused as to why she left.

"I'm sure she's going to offer Rick some comfort." Andrea said, smirking.

Daryl snorted in disbelief.

"How's she gonna help?" Daryl asked, not understanding what they meant.

"Never mind, big guy." Andrea chuckled, patting him on the shoulder as she went inside.

"What?" Daryl asked, confused.

Katelyn kissed him on the mouth to distract him, but also because he was so adorably dense sometimes.

"Don't think that's gonna work." He said after she got done kissing him.

Katelyn laughed.

Okay, maybe not as dense as she thought.

"I still don't get what you guys are laughing at." Daryl grumbled.

"I know, and that's part of why I love you." She said, taking his hand to tug him back inside.

Daryl growled and picked her up, kissing her properly.

"Get a room!" They heard a random soldier call out, causing them to chuckle and the other soldiers to start laughing.

Katelyn blushed.

Daryl smiled proudly, as if to say, "This is my woman," in his own backwood country kind of way.

"Come on. Let's go rescue our daughter from her uncle." Daryl said.

"He's fine. Sara's watching him." She chuckled, finding Merle and Sara's relationship interesting.

At first, she'd been disapproving of Sara's desire to befriend "the Ogre", Katelyn's personal nickname for Merle. After watching them though, she found it funny. No matter how much Merle blustered, Sara didn't seem to mind and usually got the best of him somehow. Merle didn't seem to be able to be truly awful to her either. He even watched his language somewhat when she was around which was hilarious to watch. Katelyn realized that a part of him had been scared of what he'd almost done in the shed that day. It was one thing for him to kill strangers bent on hurting him, but he almost did irrepairable harm to Daryl.

He was also on his best behavior because of the situation. When he'd been with her father, he had to tow the line, but was expected to kill and lie. Here, he was expected to be honorable and if he wanted to live here, he had to at least pretend. She only hoped that his love of Daryl and Hope was enough to begin to change him permanently.

She hoped for Daryl's sake.


	5. Chapter 5

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER FIVE

They stood in front of the Deer Ridge Housing Development looking at all the work they'd have to do in order to make this a home. Rick motioned the caravan forward and the group entered through the gate Glenn had opened.

Driving through, they stopped at the first series of homes and parked their vehicles while Jackson motioned the caravan of trucks and supplies into the development. The first step was to set up a moveable barricade they could use to defend the area while they were working.

"All right guys, here's how this is gonna work. Alpha Group will construct the barricade on the back since it's the biggest. Beta Group will divide into two subgroups. Subgroup 1 will build a barricade on the front gate so that walkers can't get through that way, while the rest of you will patrol in groups. Delta Group has been assembled out of specialized crew and will be under the direction of specific experts who've already been assigned. Each group has already been formed and each unit leader knows the job of their crew. Remember…you've got volunteer civilians mixed in with you so try to recall what you're here for and help each other out. You all have a special treat waiting for you when you return to base after your shift, thanks to the talents of the Atlanta Group." Jackson announced, gesturing to the group standing beside him.

The soldiers broke out in applause.

Rick and Daryl had no idea what he was talking about and turned to look at Katelyn, Carol and Andrea with confusion. The three women smirked while Andrea winked at the frowning men. She was going to let them stew.

"You gonna tell me what your plannin'?" Daryl whispered to Katelyn who giggled when he grabbed her around the waist.

"Nope." She replied saucily.

"Katelyn Marie! You are a bad girl." Daryl chided playfully making Katelyn bat her eyelashes innocently at him.

"I don't know what your talkin' about." She stated flirtatiously.

"Come on, Katelyn!" Andrea called out.

Katelyn's smile faded and she looked nervous toward the men wandering around, then looked at Andrea. She didn't want to say that being around all of these strangers made her nervous.

"Wait, where are you goin'?" Daryl asked, noticing the look on her face.

"We're supposed to go scouting with Glenn and Maggie. Michonne's with Beta Group." Katelyn said, plastering a smile on her face so Daryl wouldn't know she was afraid.

"I think its better if ya stay with me." Daryl suggested softly, trying to take her embarrassment away.

"Leave her alone Daryl!" Andrea called out, thinking that he was badgering her about going with them.

"Tell you what. How about I go with you?" Daryl asked quietly.

"Thank you." She said shyly, feeling stupid for being so skiddish.

Katelyn looked at Andrea and Rachel who'd stopped to figure out what was going on.

"Rick! I'm goin' with the girls." Daryl called out over his shoulder, figuring it'd make both of them happy this way.

Katelyn smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

Daryl started walking with her back over to Andrea who snorted when he got there.

"You know we can take care of ourselves." Andrea bit out, irritated that Daryl thought they were helpless.

"I didn't say ya couldn't, woman." Daryl snapped back, irritated with Andrea's arrogance.

"Whatever." She retorted.

Daryl wanted to reach out and choke that woman but he refrained.

Katelyn looked tense now and the earlier lighthearted mood was gone. It was silent as they met up with Maggie and Glenn.

Glenn immediately noticed everyone's mood and dove right in.

"Why is everyone so pissy?" He asked bluntly.

"Daryl doesn't think we can handle ourselves." Andrea spat out.

"Did I say that!?" Daryl yelled.

"Woah! Sorry I asked." Glenn said loudly.

"Well if you don't think that, why are you here!?" Andrea shouted.

Daryl stormed over to her and got right up in her face.

"Did you ever think that maybe it isn't about you, you selfish cow!? Katelyn don't know these men runnin' around and after everything that's happened maybe I'd just feel better if she didn't have to deal with somethin' else!" Daryl hissed furiously at her. Andrea could be a real bitch sometimes and right now was one of those moments when he wanted to drown her.

Andrea recoiled as if he'd slapped her. She hadn't thought about that and now she felt bad.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry Katelyn." Andrea groaned, turning to look at Katelyn.

"It's okay Andrea. I'm fine." Katelyn said, chewing on her lip nervously.

Rachel watched the exchange trying to figure out what was going on. At first, she thought Daryl was possessive and overbearing with Katelyn, but now, she realized that something else was going on. She didn't like all of the tension though, and they'd be spending the day together so she didn't want it to be uncomfortable.

"Where are we starting?" Rachel asked, trying to break the tension, but Daryl kept on glaring at Andrea.

"Listen, I'm sorry. I was being an asshole." Andrea said to Daryl.

"I'm fine, Andrea. Really. Let's go scout." Katelyn said, taking Daryl's hand and starting to walk.

"That was awkward." Glenn whispered to Maggie.

"No shit." Maggie retorted, shaking her head at the drama before falling in behind Daryl.

The small group approached the first house. It was a beautiful two-story which a stone bottom and pillars that supported the front porch. A large deck wrapped around the back of the house which dropped off into the manmade hill the house was built into.

Instead of kicking in the locked front door, Daryl placed his hands flat on one of the back windows and slid it up. Throwing his crossbow in, Daryl dove through the window, pulling himself into the house.

Hitting the floor, Daryl grabbed his crossbow and looked around the room quickly. Seeing nothing, he jogged to the front door to let the others in. The house was vacant with no furniture which meant…no walkers.

"Score!" Glenn said, looking around at the loft ceilings and spacious rooms.

"We get to decorate!" Andrea and Maggie said at the same time, causing everyone to laugh.

"Oh lord." Daryl sighed.

"I got the notepad. Let's go through and write down all the stuff we'll need to fix up in here." Katelyn said, pulling out the tablet she brought with.

"Yeah. The development isn't finished so a lot of these places probably don't have everything hooked up." Daryl said, noting the unfinished plumbing under the sink.

The group started going through each house to see what was needed while Daryl made lists of equipment and supplies they were going to need to fix up the houses so they would eventually be liveable. After three hours, Glenn, Maggie, Katelyn, Daryl and ten soldiers got in trucks to head back to Home Depot so they could get supplies while Andrea and Rachel took another group of soldiers to round up some heavy construction equipment.

With missions in mind, the groups left the development to head into the city.

################################################################################

Daryl helped the men load up the last of the supplies from Home Depot and yelled for Katelyn.

"Kate! Let's go!" He called out, hopping into the front seat of the truck.

Turning on the stereo, he popped in a CD and waited but she didn't come. Frowning, he hung his head out of the truck and yelled again.

"Kate!" Daryl called but didn't see her anywhere.

Hopping back out of the truck, he looked around. The men were loading up in their trucks as well but he still couldn't find her.

Daryl started to walk back inside.

Searching the warehouse, he kept calling out to her.

"Katelyn!" He yelled, searching every nook and cranny.

"Kate!"

This time, he heard an answer.

"Over here!" Katelyn called back. She didn't sound afraid so Daryl relaxed.

"What are you doin' woman!?" Daryl yelled back, heading toward the sound.

"I found something!" She answered as Daryl walked around the corner.

"What?" He said as he approached, looking down at the floor toward what she was point at.

"Someone's been staying here. Look." She said, squatting down next to the sleeping bag piled on top of flattened cardboard boxes. A large backpack sat on the ground and a small stack of canned food sat in the corner next to the lantern.

Daryl squatted down next to her to look.

Grabbing the pack, he started digging through it, pulling out a pair of pants and looked at the size.

"Men's jeans. 34' 36"...He's tall." He said, standing up to look around.

"What do we do?" Katelyn asked, looking at Daryl.

"We can leave him a note. Tell him we'll come back to check on him tomorrow morning if he wants help." He answered, shrugging his shoulders.

"Where do you think he is?" Katelyn asked.

"Probably off scoutin' or getting' supplies." Daryl said.

"I'll leave the note." Katelyn said, pulling out her tablet to write him a note.

Laying it down on the bedroll, they turned to leave.


	6. Chapter 6

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER SIX

"I knew this was a bad idea." Merle muttered under his breath as he and Sara ran through the woods as they were chased by a small group of walkers.

"The walk was a great idea! You wanting to go into the woods to look for game is what got us in trouble." Sara said back to him as she jogged over nearer to him just in case.

"Merle Dixon does not "walk", he hunts which happens to include walking." Merle spat out.

Sara laughed causing Merle to glare at her.

"You won't think its funny when I leave your ass out here." Merle snapped.

"If you were gonna leave me behind, you'd have done it on the road when I made you listen to Justin Bieber." Sara said, giggling over the thought of Merle singing Justin Bieber.

"I'm still not convinced that Bieber kid's a boy. I'd like a doctor to check that out." Merle stated, causing Sara to laugh even more.

"How far do you think we are from the school?" Sara asked, getting more nervous as time went on.

"Relax kid. You're with me. I ain't gonna let any of them damn walkers eat ya." Merle said, chuckling as she grabbed his arm to hang onto it.

Not that he'd admit it, but he liked the kid. She didn't get all butt hurt when he said stupid stuff and she made him laugh.

"Hey! Look! I remember that spot!" Sara shouted causing Merle to hush her.

"Damn girl! You're gonna bring them runnin'." Merle swore.

"Look!" She whispered as loudly as she could.

"I see it…I see it. Jesus. You getting' all excited about nothin'." Merle said irritably.

Sara stuck her tongue out at him causing him to shake his head as they made their away across the field and back to the school.

###################################################################################

Andrea and Rebecca stood on the roof of the parking garage near Main Street, looking down with the binoculars, scanning for the heavy construction equipment they needed back at Deer Ridge.

"There." She said, pointing at a large dump truck and backhoe.

"Yeah. Surrounded by about 20 walkers." Rachel noted.

"We can take 'em." Andrea said, putting down the binoculars and turning to look at the young Private who led the unit of men they took with them. Private First Class Brian Dawes, as he introduced himself, was as gung ho as they came, and polite with his "yes ma'am's", making Andrea feel old.

"You and your men up for it?" Andrea asked, quirking her eyebrow in a challenging gesture.

"Yes ma'am." He said predictably.

"Good. Let's go." Andrea said, swaggering toward the stairs, pulling her blade out.

The four vehicles pulled into the area where they'd seen the walkers loitering. The minute they stepped out of the cars, the walkers turned and began stumbling toward them. Andrea didn't hesitate, rushing over to the first one and plunged her knife into its skull while the others pulled their guns and started firing.

Andrea killed the last one before turning on the men.

"For the love of god! Are you crazy!? Didn't they teach you anything? Use your knives! They're attracted to sound." She yelled, furious with them for being so stupid.

SFC Dawes looked at her sheepishly, turning red from embarrassment. Seeing that, Andrea sighed and walked over to him.

"All right boys, listen up!" She called out, gathering the young soldiers. "Loud noise draws walkers close. You've gotta learn how to kill 'em without making any sound. Knives, Machetes, swords…whatever, but you've gotta put the blade, or the bullet through the brain. It's the brain keeping them going so it's the brain you've gotta destroy." Andrea said, teaching them all how to kill walkers.

They nodded, looking around to see if there were any more.

"There's a few staggering their way over here. Go ahead and practice on those." She said, waving them off and chuckling.

"Don't get bit or scratched gentlemen!" She called out after them as the pack went off to kill the rambling walkers.

Shaking her head, she turned back to Rachel who was smirking.

"Boys." Andrea muttered.

"Soldier boys." Rachel chuckled.

"Let's find us some keys for these things." Andrea said, climbing up into one of the heavy machines to look for keys.

Rachel came over to Andrea shaking her head after a few minutes of looking.

"No keys." Rachel said, looking around for the guys.

"Me neither." Andrea stated, hopping out of cab.

Andrea stood, with hands on hips, looking around.

"Brian!" Andrea yelled, motioning for him to cover over to them.

"What d'ya need ma'am? He asked politely.

"We got no keys. We need you guys to go find us a tow truck or something." Andrea said.

"We can do that, but what about you two?" He asked.

"We're fine. We'll used the roofs and see if we can find some other stuff." She stated.

SFC Dawes didn't look convinced but then he looked at the knives and guns on the women, and he'd already seen Andrea fight, and thought they'd be fine…better than his men had been.

"All right. We'll be back as soon as we can. If we don't find anything in the next couple of hours, we'll be back to grab you." He stated, heading back to his men.

Rachel and Andrea watched them leave before they started walking toward the nearest house.

The houses were old red brick homes, lined in rows with white fences and detached garages. The driveways were old and cracked and the yards had fully grown trees. Some even had forts built long ago on their branches. Andrea saw one with a trellis and headed straight for it.

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked, arching an eyebrow at Andrea.

"Climbing up here to see if I can see anything." She answered.

Rachel sighed and shook her head. She could tell that Andrea was one of those people who spent their lives trying to prove they aren't scared because they actually are. Too much risk for stupid mistakes, but Rachel understood it. Especially in a world gone crazy.

"Anything?" Rachel called up to her.

"No. Not a thing." She told her, scanning the horizon with the binoculars.

Neither one of them noticed as a herd of walkers came from behind the house and headed straight for Rachel.


	7. Chapter 7

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER SEVEN

Andrea screamed and Rachel immediately swung around.

One of the walkers was about to grab her when she spun away, pulling her gun from her waistband. She shot the first one in the head, then took off running. Andrea, stuck above, started firing down at the ones chasing her, giving Rachel a chance to get away.

The walkers stumbled out of the back yard where a fence had been knocked down, filling the front yard and street surrounding the house. The few that were in the front staggered after Rachel who'd run a ways down the street and turned a corner, away from Andrea who was now stuck on the roof encircled by a herd of walkers.

"Shit!" Andrea swore as she lost sight of Rachel.

Quickly pulling out her clips, she counted her ammo and swore again. Only two clips left. She didn't figure she'd need more since the soldiers would be with them.

Looking out, she saw nothing that was going to be of any help.

Then she heard a horn beeping.

Scrambling over to that side of the roof, she looked toward where the honking was, trying to see who was doing it. She knew it couldn't be Rachel because it was coming from the wrong direction.

The horn kept honking and the walkers soon turned their attention away from the house, giving Andrea a chance to climb down. Waiting until the walkers weren't looking her way, she bolted across the street toward where Rachel had disappeared.

#############################################################################

Daryl looked up as the trucks from Andrea's group entered through the gates. Immediately, he knew something was wrong, when Dawes jumped out of the truck and came running over to them.

"We can't find Andrea and Rachel. They sent us to retrieve a tow truck but when we came back, they were nowhere to be found and there was a herd of walkers." He said frantically.

"Shit." Daryl swore, grabbing his crossbow and gun before turning to yell for Rick.

"Rick!" Daryl shouted, "We got a problem!"

Rick looked up and started walking toward Daryl.

"What's up?" He asked, approaching.

"Andrea and Rachel are missin'." Daryl said, pointing at SFC Dawes.

"They were with them." Rick said, looking at the soldiers that were supposed to go with them.

"We got separated. There weren't any keys so they had us go and get a tow truck." Brian explained, though he felt foolish now.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Major Reese demanded as he approached. He heard what they said and he wasn't happy. Dawes was a good kid, but he was young and inexperienced, having never seen battle really. His common sense wasn't developed yet and he didn't have an appreciation for what one on one combat would be like with the walkers.

"I don't know sir. They knew more than we did about the walkers so we thought she knew what she was doing." SFC Dawes replied.

"We'll discuss this later." Jackson stated, dismissing all of them but Dawes. "You need to show us where they went."

"Yes sir." Dawes replied formally.

Daryl thought about leaving Katelyn here, but decided he'd rather have her along.

"Kate. We gotta go find Andrea and Rachel. Come on." He called out to her.

She hurried over, a concerned expression on her face.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Dipshit here lost them." Daryl said, gesturing toward Dawes, who cringed at the finger pointing. Katelyn felt bad for him.

Daryl climbed into the car, waiting for Katelyn who patted Dawes on the shoulder sympathetically as she climbed in next to him. Rick followed with Jackson and Dawes in another vehicle, leaving the development to head to Main Street.

It only took them ten minutes to get there. Passing by a park on their way, they noticed a herd of about 50 walkers and paused to look. They heard a horn honking and realized that the herd was gathered there because they were drawn by the noise. Daryl stopped the car and hopped out for a second, to go and speak with Rick.

"You think Andrea or Rachel did that?" Daryl asked.

"Dawes says they were near Main Street. This is a few blocks from there." Jackson stated.

"All right. We'll go to where the kid lost 'em." Daryl said, softening his earlier chastisement of the foolish soldier before he climbed back into his car and they all headed out.

Dawes directed them to the worksite where they were acquiring the equipment. Getting out of their cars, they looked around, not seeing anyone.

"Let's do a grid search." Jackson stated, pointing at a building not too far from them. "We'll start there."

"Lead the way." Rick said, falling in behind him.

###############################################################################

Rachel crawled through the basement window, dropping down onto the ground. She looked around, taking in the huge tool room where many makeshift weapons hung. Heading over, she grabbed a large screwdriver, but set it down when she saw a long, metal footlocker sitting on the floor in the corner. Walking over to it, she knelt down, opening it.

Rachel was shocked.

Within the old footlocker were World War II souvenirs. Whoever lived here must have been a vet or had one in their family. Lying on top was a folded Nazi flag that Rachel just couldn't bring herself to touch, except at the corners, as if the evil would somehow rub off on her. Below, however, was an old Nazi uniform and lying on top was a deadly looking dagger marked on the hilt with the symbol of the SS. She wasn't sure what was written on the blade but the engraving was magnificent.

For a moment, she thought about taking it but she couldn't bring herself to touch it. Closing the lid, Rachel turned around and slammed into a large, hulking figure.

Screaming, Rachel lashed out, knocking the figure over. At first, she thought it was a man, but then she saw the gaunt face and bloodied mouth. Scrambling backward, she groped the trunk, grabbing the blade she knew would be there, and launched at the stumbling figure, putting the blade straight through his skull and into his brain. The walker shuddered, then dropped to the floor, ceasing to move again.

Rachel's chest heaved as she drew in ragged breaths, trying to calm herself. She looked down at her hand, holding the dagger covered in blood and dropped it as if it was a burning coal. Crawling to her feet, she stumbled toward the stairs and up them, coming out into a living room. The sight that greeted her wasn't any better. A woman lay sprawled across the couch, her brains splattered on the wall behind her. It was obvious that she had been shot in the head. Even worse, a small child lay on the floor next to her, having been shot as well.

Rachel bent over and vomited, stumbling for the door to get fresh air. Ripping it open, she glanced behind her as she staggered onto the front porch and right into Rick who was as startled as she was.

"Are you all right?" Rick asked, grabbing her arms to keep her upright.

It took her a second to answer.

"There was a walker. He must've shot his wife and their child then didn't kill himself." She rambled, still thinking of the body of the child.

"Stay here." Rick said, handing her off to Katelyn while he, Jackson and Daryl entered the house.

They immediately saw the scene in the living room and cringed. The woman had long dark hair, like Lori, and the small child was a young boy. Rick turned away for a moment.

"I got this one. Go see if Rachel's all right." Daryl said quietly, realizing exactly what Rick was thinking.

Daryl moved through the house, Jackson behind him, before they began down the stairs. They immediately found the large body that lay on the floor. Squatting down, he saw the glint of metal on the floor a few feet from him and picked it up.

"Shit." Daryl said, turning the blade over in his hand.

"What is it?" Jackson asked, moving closer.

"My honor is loyalty." Daryl replied, shaking his head.

"That's an SS dagger." Jackson said, squatting down next to him.

"Damn good blade." Daryl said, wiping off the blood on the walker's clothing before sliding it into his belt.

"Lots of tools and stuff here. We'll have to come back." Jackson said, standing up.

"Let's go find Andrea." The Major said, heading up the stairs.


	8. Chapter 8

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER EIGHT

He watched as the men began searching for the blonde street by street. He had seen the entire incident go down with her and the brunette and had to act quickly. He'd raced to the park and broken into a car with a security alarm, knowing that the noise would draw the Creepers off. Heading back, he'd lost sight of both of them until he saw the group of rescuers come out of the house with the brunette. Now, he just needed to find the blonde and direct them to her without letting them know he was out there.

He'd already had a close call at the Home Depot. When he'd found that note, he got nervous and moved his camp. Their tracker, the one with the crossbow and the redhead had gone back to his old hideout. He knew that because he'd been watching from afar. He wasn't about risking his freedom but he couldn't let innocent people die either.

Since they were walking the eastern streets surrounding Main Street, he decided to take the western ones and see if he could find her.

############################################################################

Rick, Daryl, and Jackson came walking out of the house shaking their heads.

"I don't want to risk yelling, but at this point, it's getting dark and I'm a little worried." Jackson stated, after they'd just finished searching their 40th house.

"Maybe we should search by vehicle. We could yell out the windows for her. We'd cover more ground that way." Rick suggested.

"I searched for a dog once that way." Daryl muttered, earning him a gentle swat from Katelyn.

He grinned unashamedly. Andrea just wasn't his favorite person at the moment. Besides the stupid shit she did at the farm, she slept with the Governor, insulted Kate and was just a selfish bitch most of the time. He didn't think she was evil at heart, just seemed to think with anything but her head. He knew he needed to let it go, but her behavior toward Kate earlier really pissed him off.

"Hey. I know you're mad at her because of earlier, but I'm okay. I promise. She wasn't there. She doesn't really know." Katelyn took him aside to talk quietly.

"She was sleeping with your father." Daryl reminded her.

"I know, but she didn't know what he was really like. I don't blame her for that." Katelyn said softly, kissing his cheek. "Thank you for coming to my defense."

Daryl snorted, his anger still present, but it was, at least, put back on simmer since Kate wasn't really upset.

"Come on. Let's go find her." Daryl sighed, turning to head back to the vehicles.

They moved quickly to the cars, hopping in and heading to pick up where they left off.

Passing by an alley, Rachel was sure that she saw someone standing there, watching them, but shrugged it off, assuming it was a walker. Still, it left her with a strange feeling of uneasiness.

"Andrea!" Rick called out the window, followed by an echo from Daryl, yelling out his window, but there was no answer.

"Wait! Let's try the parking garage roof. She'd head there if she could." Rachel said, grabbing Rick's arm when she thought of it.

"Good thought." Rick said, turning to head toward the same parking garage where Jackson had found Kate that day.

Turning the corner, they immediately saw Andrea, standing in the center of the entrance, waiting for them.

"What took you guys so long?" She said cockily as Jackson climbed out of the car along with Rick.

"You all right?" Jackson asked, looking her up and down to make sure she wasn't injured.

He immediately saw the ripped shirt and blood and hurried over to her.

"I'm fine. Just a scratch." Andrea said as he grasped her arm to look at the scratch.

"Walker?" Rick asked, suddenly a little panicked.

Rachel saw that they were looking at Andrea and got out of the car just in case they needed medical help.

"No, broken glass." Andrea replied, rolling her eyes at herself for a stupid injury.

"Here, let me see." Rachel said, walking up to take her arm.

Looking the arm over, she pressed her thumbs on both sides of the wound and pulled it apart to see how deep it was.

"Ow!" Andrea griped.

"You're gonna need a few stitches when we get back." Rachel said. "Glass is a bitch."

Jackson took out a handkerchief from his back pocket and walked back to the jeep, grabbing the med kit out. Pulling out gauze, he held it over her wound, then tied the material over it to hold it in place.

Rachel smirked. She wasn't going to ruin their "moment" and remind him that she was a nurse.

"Thanks." Andrea said, feeling herself blush a little at the attention.

"No problem. Straight to the doc when we get back though." He ordered.

Andrea saluted him playfully.

"Yes, sir." She retorted earning her a grin from the Major.

"Let's go home." Jackson said, climbing back into the Jeep.

None of them noticed the single figure standing in the shadow of the fading light, watching them as they departed.

##############################################################################

Rachel made quick work of stitching up Andrea after they returned to the school. Snipping the last suture, she bandaged it so it didn't rub against anything.

"You're done." She said, patting Andrea on the leg as she sat up on the table.

"Wow. You're fast." Andrea said, hopping down.

"Before I worked in geriatric care, I was a surgical nurse." She said.

"I guess I don't know that much about you. Why'd you switch? Those are like worlds apart." Andrea asked, curious.

"I…uh…Let's just say that I'm not a big fan of surgeons." She answered, chuckling derisively at the memory.

"Prima Donna's." Andrea said, noticing the slight tremor that came over Rachel at the memory. Andrea was curious now. There was more to that story than Rachel was letting on.

"Yeah. Something like that." Rachel replied, turning away to clean up the mess.

"I sense a story there." Andrea said, buttoning her shirt back up.

"You're not missing anything, trust me. I dated one…a surgeon. He was pretty much a dick." She said casually.

"And that ruined your love of surgery?" She asked, not putting the pieces together because they weren't adding up.

"Yeah. Surgery is really stressful. Geriatric care is so…different. It's beautiful in a way. Peaceful and loving…I sound like a hallmark card, sorry." Rachel said, throwing the syringes away.

"Death is beautiful, huh?" Andrea asked. "That's morbid."

"To be there when someone takes their last breath. There's something special about it. It's sad, but after seeing an end to suffering, I guess I came to see if as peaceful relief." Rachel said poetically.

"I guess I just don't see it that way. I held my sister while she died, a horrible death of fear and pain." Andrea said, her voice filled with anger.

"Andrea. No one should die before their time. It's different when they're elderly, and they simply slip away. What you experienced with your sister…that's not the same thing. That was a tragic end and there is no peace or beauty in that. Sorry. I didn't mean to make it sound like that." Rachel said, putting her hand on Andrea's arm comfortingly.

"I understand what you're saying. I guess I've just seen so much death lately that I can't see it that way." Andrea stated, wiping a tear from her cheek.

"How about you and I go get a drink?" Rachel said, looping her arm in Andrea's.

"Sounds good to me." Andrea replied heartily.


	9. Chapter 9

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER NINE

_Knock. Knock._

"Come on in." Andrea called.

Major Reese ducked into the Atlanta tent, taking off his hat out of habit.

"Hey Major." Andrea said, smiling.

"I need a favor from you." He said sheepishly.

"Really?" She arched her eyebrow with amusement at his posture.

"Yeah. Most of my men haven't had to fight walkers on the ground where they're in hand to hand combat. I was hoping that you and Michonne would be willing to help me train my men." Jackson said earnestly.

Andrea was surprised. Usually they asked Rick or Daryl for stuff like that.

"All right." She said, squaring her shoulders to him. "I could do that…if…you'll do me a favor."

This time, Major Reese arched his eyebrow.

"I want an M-16." She said, smiling at him.

"Uh…I can probably get you one." Jackson said, surprised.

"Then we have a deal." She said cheekily, holding out her hand to shake.

Jackson chuckled and shook her hand.

####################################################################################

Katelyn headed up the stairs, into the 2nd floor of the school to drop off one of the kiddos with their father. Heading through the thicket of soldiers, she started to get nervous. They weren't used to having civilians up here, she could tell that instantly. She tried to ignore the hoots and hollers as she passed by, toddler in her arms. She started to feel like her skin was crawling with all the eyes on her.

Her breathing started to quicken, feeling like she couldn't catch her breath. Ducking into a women's bathroom, she leaned against the wall, trying to take deep breaths and calm herself. Little Jamie was staring at her, like he knew something was wrong and she tried to smile to reassure him but it must have been weak because his lower lip started to tremble.

"Oh, it's okay, honey." She cooed, starting to bounce him so he'd be entertained.

The poor thing just kept crying which was setting Kate more on edge now. She was frustrated with herself and getting angry. She knew it wouldn't help, but she couldn't help it. Ever since the whole prison "adventure", she had these stupid panic attacks. They were incredibly inconvenient.

Growling, she headed out the door, diving into the crowd of male bodies again. Counting in her head in order to distract herself, she made her way to Rm. 213. Ducking in the door, she quickly scanned the room, taking in the makeshift barracks the upstairs had become. James Sr. was sitting over on his bed, putting on his boots, having just got off shift. He saw them and smiled, waving Katelyn over.

"He got scared when we got up here." Katelyn explained, leaving out the part where her being upset probably caused him to get upset.

"Hey buddy." Sgt. Dennis took him gently out of her hands, flying him through the air making airplane noises, causing Jamie to giggle.

"Da da." Jamie googled causing Katelyn to smile. He was a cute baby.

"Thanks, Kate." James said, as she turned to leave.

"No problem, Sgt. He's adorable. It makes it easy." She said, smiling at him before heading across the room.

That's when she heard them.

"Damn, bro. You hittin' that?" One of the men asked him, while the others started laughing.

"Hell no. Have you seen her boyfriend?" He replied, causing Katelyn to take a breath again, in order to calm herself. She really hated it when men talked about her like she was a piece of meat.

"The crazy lookin' one with the crossbow?" Another asked, to which everyone responded with "DOH!"

"That inbred, hick, red-neck? You need to show her some city love." The last one said.

That did it. Now she was pissed.

Spinning around, she stomped back over to the asshole who made the last crack and decked him in the face.

God that felt good.

"My ears work just as well as my fist, you prick!" She said with a deadly cold tone, staring the man who was now holding his jaw in the face.

Turning around, she bolted from the room as the other men exploded in laughter.

Katelyn wasn't even polite as she shoved her way through the throng of men. By the time she was nearing the stairs, the adrenaline had worn off and she was shaking so bad, she could barely walk.

_Just three more steps, Katelyn._ She told herself, as spots started blotting out her vision.

Stumbling over to the wall, she leaned against it for a second. The men around her had turned with confused faces to stare at her. When she looked up, she saw them, and panic took full hold of her. Backing up along the wall, she felt her way to a doorway and slid into the alcove so she couldn't see them. Facing the door, she grabbed the doorknob and tried to open it, but it wouldn't, of course.

Tears began to spill as she frantically tried to open the door, but it was locked. Leaning her head on the door, she felt the familiar darkness encroaching on the outer edges of her mind and slid to the floor. Scooting into the corner, she leaned her head down on her knees and slipped into oblivion.

#############################################################################

"Hey! You seen Katelyn?" Daryl asked, worried after she didn't return from the "school".

Rachel, Andrea, and Carol shook their heads.

"She took little Jamie up to his dad, but I never saw her after that." Carol said.

"Upstairs?" Daryl asked. He knew those were the men's barracks and wondered what would be keeping her. She certainly wouldn't want to stay up there. She didn't like being around that many men.

_Shit!_ He thought, bolting toward the stairs. He was gonna fucking kill someone if they put one finger on her.

Racing up the stairs, he had no trouble locating her because there was a crowd of soldiers standing around. The good news was, they all looked confused, but they parted instantly when they saw him coming. He must have looked murderous.

Scanning the area quickly, he saw one of the soldiers crouched down next to Katelyn who was crumpled in a doorway alcove. Rage came instantly to him and he grabbed the soldier by his collar, yanking him backward and jumped between Katelyn and him. Turning, he saw two soldiers grab the one he just threw and haul him out of the way before Daryl could leap on him. Three more soldiers jumped between them to keep Daryl from going after him.

"Woah. Woah. Woah. He was just trying to help." A thick-muscled, dark skinned soldier said, putting his hand up against Daryl's chest to stop him. "Calm down. We were trying to help."

Daryl's breathing was heavy and his eyes were like two pools of rage.

"Somebody go get the Major! Fast!" The soldier said, calling out to someone behind him.

"The Major is right here!" Jackson had been informed of ruckus in the hallway before Daryl even got there and headed straight there when they described who it was.

Stepping into the middle of the standoff, Jackson nodded at Daryl, then turned to issue orders to his men.

"Disperse! Immediately! Sgt., go get the doc." He said to the large one who'd gotten in between Daryl and the other soldier.

Daryl waited until they all started walking away before dropping down next to Katelyn who'd awakened but was confused as to what was going on.

"Hey." He said, lifting her chin to look at her face, his tone instantly gentle even though his hands were shaking and his body tense. He wanted to make sure nothing had happened.

"What happened?" He asked, looking intensely into her eyes.

She looked up at him, her mind muddled for a moment, then she remembered and her face instantly crumpled. Embarrassed, she ducked her head down into his chest so no one could see her.

The rage started to boil back up as he thought the worst.

"What happened?" He insisted, lifting her face back up to inspect it for any injuries.

"N…nothing." She whispered. "I…I punched one of the soldiers."

With that, she burst out crying.

"Did he deserve to get punched?" Daryl asked, trying to maintain some calm for Kate's sake.

"A little." She said timidly.

"Did he touch you?" Daryl asked through clenched teeth, ready to kill someone if need be.

Jackson must have noticed because he motioned for the Sgt. to find out who she punched and why, and secure them for their own safety. If one of his soldiers did touch her, then he might just let Daryl have at him.

"N…no." She said.

"Then why did you punch him?" Daryl asked, truly confused now.

"I don't want to tell you." She said miserably, moving her face so she didn't have to look at him again.

Daryl sighed, dropping his head down to take a deep breath, trying to figure out why she'd hit him if he didn't touch her.

"Did he say something about you?" He asked.

"No" She muttered, still refusing to look at him.

"I'm not getting it, sweetheart. Why'd you hit him?" He asked, terribly confused. "Were you scared?"

"No." She said, getting upset because she just wanted to go back to their tent.

Jackson stepped nearer and squatted down.

"Did one of the men say something about Daryl?" Major Reese asked knowingly.

She nodded.

Daryl burst out laughing and let his head fall into his hand.

The other little asskicker.

Daryl looked at Jackson who was smirking.

"Come on. Let's get you outta here." Daryl said, sliding his arms under her knees and back so he could lift her.

Carrying her down the stairs, he headed straight through the gym and to the medical tent where the doc was waiting for them.

Jackson was walking behind, shaking his head with amusement.


	10. Chapter 10

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER TEN

Daryl stood outside the tent with Major Reese talking while the doctor made sure Katelyn was all right. She'd insisted on speaking with her alone, even though Daryl tried to argue with her.

"She has panic attacks now." Daryl explained quietly.

"Now? Because of the walkers?" Jackson asked, completely understanding why that'd scare someone.

"No. Because of assholes." Daryl said seriously.

"Oh." Jackson said. He didn't need to know the details, but he could imagine. He'd seen what men like Breed do, and there were certainly enough of those running around.

"Who's this jackass that pissed her off?" Daryl asked off-handedly. He didn't really care if anybody like him or not, but they'd upset Katelyn and that was definitely a problem for him.

"I took care of it. Apparently, when she dropped off baby Jamie, one of dad's barrack mates made a few inappropriate comments. She ignored those, but when one of them said something about you…they said she just turned around, walked back over and punched him square in the jaw." Jackson laughed. He admired a little fire in a person, and he knew how soldiers could be. They certainly wouldn't mess with her again.

"I believe her exact words were; 'My ears work just as well as my fist.'" Jackson said, chuckling.

Daryl laughed too. He wished he would have been there to see it. He couldn't imagine her doing that. She was generally shy and soft-hearted. Good to know she had a little warrior in her after all. He could work on that with her.

The doctor came out, holding the tent flap aside so they could enter.

Daryl walked straight over to the table and sighed when he saw her splinted hand. Sliding his palm under her arm, he lifted it to take a better look.

"Is it broke?" Daryl asked, looking at Katelyn with a frown. He wasn't happy that she'd hurt herself.

"Not really." She said quietly.

"It's a boxer fracture." The doctor corrected, shaking her head at Katelyn.

Daryl arched an eyebrow.

"So it's broke." Daryl stated, looking at Katelyn who blushed with guilt for trying to lie to him. She just didn't want him to be upset.

"It'll heal fast." She said, patting Katelyn on the leg. "I gave her a shot for the pain so she should probably go lie down."

Daryl set her hand down gently and helped her stand. He could tell by the way she swayed that the effects of the drug had already begun to kick in.

"Let's get you to bed." He said softly, looking at Jackson who smiled sympathetically.

Sliding his arm under her shoulder, he placed another one around her waist and helped her walk straight to the door.

"Thanks doc." He said gruffly, exiting the tent.

Heading straight for the tents, he saw everyone was sitting around and sighed. He was hoping to slip into their tent unnoticed, but now he was going to spend the rest of the night explaining what happened.

Rick and Rachel both jumped up to grab the tent flaps, trying to figure out what was going on. To them, Katelyn looked hammered, with her feet tangling up with each other as she stumbled into the tent with Daryl's help. If it hadn't been for the splint on her hand, they'd have thought she'd hit the bottle somewhere.

"You need some help?" Carol asked, hurrying over to them. She knew that Katelyn had gone upstairs and then Daryl had bolted. She couldn't imagine this was a good thing.

"I got it." Daryl replied, ducking under Rick's arm and into the tent.

Rick stepped just inside the doorway.

"Everything okay?" He asked, concerned that something else was going on.

Daryl laid her gently down on their mattress, looking over his shoulder at Rick.

"Yeah. She's doped up at the moment." Daryl said, pulling her shoe off with a plop.

"She hurt her hand?" Rick asked, trying to piece together exactly what had occurred. He couldn't help it. He still thought of himself as their leader and it bothered him when one of his own was hurt or in danger.

"Yup. Busted it." Daryl replied, pulling the other shoe off and tucking her legs into bed.

"How the hell'd she do that?" Rick asked, coming closer to hand Daryl the pillow that'd fallen on the floor.

"She popped a solider in the jaw." Daryl said, smirking as he smoothed her hair away from her face gently.

Her eyes were already closed and Daryl shook his head at her with amusement. She never stopped surprising him.

"Do I want to ask why?" Rick asked, suddenly tense.

"He said something that pissed her off." Daryl explained, pulling the blankets up under her chin, smiling a little.

Rick knew if he needed to be worried, Daryl'd be fired up and ready to kill someone but since he was calm, Rick didn't.

"You're gonna have to explain this to everyone, so you might as well get her situated and then come out and tell us all at once. I can smell a story coming on." Rick said, ducking out of the tent to give them some privacy for a moment.

Daryl kissed her on the forehead and stood to walk back out of the tent.

Time to face the music.

The group sat around in lawn chairs, pretending that the lamplight was a fire. They turned the lights out at night, leaving lanterns as paths through the gym to simulate night time. The tents created a city of sorts with the paths getting their own names, like Atlanta Road, which was what they called the path that led in front of the Atlanta tents, or Scrub Street where all the medical staff was staying.

"What the hell is going on, Daryl?" Andrea, always the first to butt in, asked.

Daryl frowned. Why'd it have to be her?

"She broke her hand." He said, being difficult on purpose.

"Yeah, I got that, but how?" She pushed.

"I need a beer." Daryl muttered, getting handed a cold beer by Rachel who reached for one the moment he came out. She tossed one at Merle as well, who grunted in appreciation.

"Thanks." Daryl said, before draining the entire bottle in one tip.

Rachel handed him another one.

This time, he nodded, and sipped slower on it.

Daryl sat down in one of the chairs and recited the tale. Not the part where she freaked out, but the other part.

Everyone burst out laughing at the same time.

"Who'd a thought she had it in 'er?" Andrea said, nodding approvingly.

"Maybe having a Dixon in 'er, rubbed off." Merle said suggestively, earning him a towel thrown in his face by Andrea.

"You're such a pig." Andrea said.

"How's he look?" Rachel asked, ignoring Merle's disgusting comment.

"Don't know. Major took him. Made sure I couldn't find 'im." Daryl said, trying not to think about it.

"What the hell did the guy say?" Andrea wondered aloud.

"Don't know." Daryl stated.

"We'll get it out of her tomorrow." Andrea said, nudging Carol conspiratorily.

"Just leave her alone about it, Andrea." Daryl snapped.

"Okay…sorry." Andrea put her hands up in mock surrender. "I'm going to bed."

"Night." Rick and Rachel said in unison.

"I'm gonna take this in my tent and drink it, then turn in." Daryl said, standing and grabbing another beer.

"G' night." Rachel said, smiling at him. She liked Daryl. She was gruff and crude sometimes but he had a heart of gold and she could see that he had a noble soul. Unlike his crazy-ass brother.

Merle got up next and headed off to his corner of the gym.

"Good night Merle." Rachel called out.

He didn't even bother to turn around, just raised his hand in acknowledgement.

While everyone was looking at Merle, Carol slipped into the tent after Daryl. She wanted to talk to him.

"Is she really okay?"Carol asked quietly so no one would overhear, as she entered the tent.

Daryl tilted his head to look at her.

"I don't know. She had another panic attack." Daryl said softly.

"I'm worried she's gonna have one at the wrong time…like right in the middle of a herd." Daryl said, sighing.

"Teach her to fight, Daryl." Carol said simply.

"Will it make a difference? She knows how to use a gun." Daryl said, dismissively.

"No, Daryl. Teach her to fight. Tonight, she punched someone because they said something about you. Teach her to use the same anger when someone tries to hurt her too." Carol said, putting her hand on his arm.

"But instead of defending herself, she just shuts down." Daryl said.

"So you teach her the skills to fight off zombie or human. She'll gain confidence in her ability to stop what's happening. That's what did this to her. Trust me. She thinks she has no power in this world, so she hides. If you give her some power, she'll stop having the panic attacks." Carol patted his arm, squeezing it comfortingly.

"You think so?" Daryl asked, a small semblance of hope sparking in his heart.

"Yeah. I do. It helped me. It'll help her." Carol said softly.

Daryl nodded. He could see that she was different. More confidence now that she knew how to fight in this world and wasn't dependent on someone else.

Tomorrow, Daryl would to Jackson about starting a self-defense class for the survivors and he could work with Katelyn once her hand got better. There were a lot of people who could benefit from being able to defend themselves in this world.


	11. Chapter 11

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Rick and Rachel were the only ones left at the "campfire". They sat awkwardly for a few minutes before she broke the silence.

"I never thanked you for saving us…me." Rachel said quietly, smiling at Rick.

Rick smiled at her.

"You helped us." Rick said, appreciative that some of the women, under her leadership, fought alongside them. He admired her. She was strong.

"I couldn't just sit by and leave my fate to someone else." Rachel explained, "If there was a chance that we could get free of Breed by helping, then I wasn't going to turn away from that."

Rick nodded.

"But you didn't have to." He said.

"Yes I did. It's the first step toward claiming your life as your own." She stated passionately.

"Yeah." He said, knowing exactly what she meant as his thoughts turned to Lori.

Everything in this world was uncertain. That's what drove him over the edge. He had always lived in a small town where he knew everyone. As a sheriff, he had a lot of control over the world around him, or at least, he had the illusion of control, but now…he had none. Not to stop the plague. Not to save his wife.

He didn't know what he had control over anymore.

Rick bowed his head, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to fall.

Rachel reached over and took his hand in hers, squeezing it supportively. She knew exactly what he was thinking about.

"I'm sorry about your wife." She whispered sincerely. It made her sad to see him in this kind of pain.

Rick just nodded, not being able to form words past the lump in his throat.

Rachel didn't know what else to say. She'd comforted so many families who lost their loved ones, but this was different for some reason. The overwhelming agony of this much death. She wanted to say much more, but didn't think he was ready to hear it. He needed time to heal and a place to begin.

That's why the Deer Ridge project was so important to him. She understood now. He needed to start over. To make a life for the people he cared about that were left. Until then, he would be lost.

"Deer Ridge will be a place for all of us to start over." She said quietly and Rick looked at her. His gaze penetrated the defensive wall she had around her all of the time. He searched her eyes for something before nodding.

"That's what I hope." He said, standing up and setting his beer bottle down.

"Thank you." He stated, "I'm gonna turn in, I think."

Rachel smiled, standing up.

"Good night Rick." She said longingly, watching as he ducked into his tent leaving her standing alone by the lantern.

Rachel stared at the doorway of his tent and sighed, before heading to the tent she shared with the other women in Breed's brothel.

###########################################################################

The next few weeks were busy ones. They had 500 soldiers and at least 50 of the survivors out at Deer Creek building the walls and ramparts. They all worked in teams with Rick, Daryl, and the Major running everything. Everyone was pitching in and they actually had a lot of fun.

Glenn, Maggie and a few others ran to the outskirts of town to round up seed of all sorts to plant for spring and made note of farm equipment they'd seen and where it was. Daryl, Katelyn, Rachel and Rick were working on digging wells which they determined would be easier than getting city water going. Jackson was overseeing the building of the defenses and the wall. Rick and Jackson had talked about the easiest way to do it based on what Rick had seen at Woodbury of all places, so some of the soldiers drove the entire fleet of school buses to the development to use as ramparts.

While they were busy working on Deer Creek, Michonne, Andrea and another 30 men patrolled, picking off stray walkers and watching for herds. They used it as a training exercise for the men. For the purposes of training, Andrea and Michonne were to be treated as their commanders. The soldiers mostly drooled over Andrea and were in awe of Michonne's prowess with the blade. They were witness to just how lethal she could be and all wanted to learn how to fight hand to hand against walkers.

Rachel played medic all day, patching up injuries from the site and organizing the building of an clinic for those who would be living in Deer Creek. It was like a good old fashion barn raising. A few of the other women from the brothel wanted to learn how to help in the clinic and Rachel decided that she'd teach them basic nursing skills during their downtime.

Katelyn was quiet all day. With her injured hand, she felt useless, and embarrassed. She could still write so she began documenting everything that needed to get done and started dividing them up by days to see how long the whole process would take.

Daryl and Merle lay on their backs under a kitchen sink, with only their legs sticking out as Katelyn and Carol walked in.

"That has to be longer or it won't be slow enough to carry solid waste through the pipe and wash the sides of the pipe." Daryl said.

"It'll be fine." Merle said.

"No, it won't. Fix it." Daryl said, scooting out from under the sink.

"For Christ's sake." Merle swore

Katelyn and Carol chuckled.

"When did you two get here?" Daryl asked, standing up and brushing himself off.

"Just now." Katelyn said walking over to kiss him.

Daryl was about to say something when they heard screaming outside.

All heads turned to look and Merle scooted out from under the sink.

"What the hell was that?" Merle asked, looking up at Katelyn and Daryl.

"I don't know." Daryl said, moving to the window to look out but he couldn't see anything.

They heard the scream again.

"Grab your machete." Daryl said to Katelyn who stared at him with surprise.

"You want me to come?" Katelyn asked. Usually, Daryl would tell her to lock herself inside to make sure. She could tell he was uncomfortable saying it, but he waited patiently for her to pick up her knife.

Carol smiled sympathetically at him. She knew what his decision was and why he'd made it. She also knew it went against every fiber of his protective instincts. He just wanted to keep Katelyn safe, but knew that training her was in her best interests.

"You only got your splint off a week ago. Can you grip it tightly enough?" Daryl asked, concerned and looking for a reason to keep her in the house.

"It's fine." Katelyn said nervously.

"All right then, come on." Daryl said as he opened the front door for her.

All four of them exited the house and started jogging toward the screaming.

It didn't take them long to figure out what'd happened. A small herd of walkers had slipped through one of the temporary barricades because the soldiers didn't use enough sandbags when they created them.

Andrea and Michonne had their group of 30 soldiers and they were hacking their way through the crowd, but they weren't using a careful formation.

"Andrea!" Daryl shouted, racing toward them with Katelyn right behind him. "Get into a circle formation!"

Andrea couldn't hear him so they quickly became surrounded.

Daryl saw Rick heading straight for them and he called out.

"Rick!" Daryl shouted. "Just like the prison!"

Rick looked over and nodded, heading toward Daryl, Merle, Katelyn, and Carol.

"Stay in a circle!" Rick shouted, as they waded into the battle.

"Katelyn, stay right next to me. Don't break the line." Daryl said, pulling her next to him. "If you or Carol get in trouble, yell."

The group pulled into a tight circle, just as a wave of walkers passed Andrea and Michonne.

The first walker was an elderly man who had been partially eaten as chunks of flesh had been ripped out of him. He reached as he stumbled, straight for Katelyn who readied her machete.

"Take a deep breath." Daryl said, watching her carefully to make sure she didn't get in over her head.

Katelyn did as he instructed, calming her nerves before raising her machete and slicing straight at his head. The machete sunk into his skull easier than she thought it would but pulling it back out was harder. Using two hands, she yanked it out just as two more headed toward them. Daryl sliced the next one's head clean off while Katelyn hit a different one in the head. This time, it didn't go through the skull and it kept stumbling toward her. Daryl shoved his dagger into its skull, helping Katelyn before the next group came at them.

They made their way over to Andrea who was caught in the midst of three walkers trying to grab at her. Michonne cut down the first one and then grabbed Andrea's arm, hauling her backwards into the circle of the other group.

"Andrea! Stay in formation. Keep in the circle and don't pull out of it no matter what!" Rick called out to her as she noticed who was around her. "Okay?"

"Got it!" She answered, stepping into the ring to join the others.

Michonne got on the other side, next to Carol and Rick, swing her sword three times, and watching three more walkers go down.

"Jason! Put your men in a circular formation!" Andrea shouted at the soldiers.

Jason responded immediately, after watching the effectiveness of the Atlanta group.

"Get in a circle! Backs to each other!" He shouted as he backed up into a group of 4 other soldiers. "Moose! Pull your men into a circular formation!"

Moose was exactly that; a moose. He was 6'6" and almost as wide as he was tall. He was one of the only soldiers with combat experience, having been an army ranger.

It took only a matter of minutes before they had cleaned up the walkers that had gotten through. The other soldiers had quickly solidified the barricade, sealing off the hole they were pouring through.

The fighters now stood, catching their breaths.

"You did well." Daryl said quietly to Katelyn. "I think the machete might not be the right weapon for you however."

"Why?" She asked.

"It's actually harder to kill them with a slashing weapon than it is a piercing one, it's just that the piercing weapons mean you're closer to them than you'd probably like to get. They're more effective though." Daryl explained, wiping her machete off on his pant leg.

Katelyn nodded, looking over at Michonne and her katana.

"She's fully trained with that…and…it's both a piercing and slashing weapon. If I could find more katanas, I'd have everyone using them, but here…this will have to do for now." Daryl said, handing her the Nazi dagger they'd found in the house.

Katelyn looked at it and turned it over in her hand to study it.

"It's beautiful. Where'd you get it?" She asked.

"In the house where we found Rachel that day she and Andrea got separated from their group." Daryl said. "It's sharp so be careful. It's about the best blade around." He added, leaving out the origin of the blade.

Katelyn tied the scabbard around her belt and slid the knife into it, smiling at Daryl.

"Thank you." She said, leaning up on her tiptoes to kiss him.

Daryl smiled and headed back into the house with Merle and Katelyn.


	12. Chapter 12

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER TWELVE

Rick entered the Science room to come face to face with boxes stacked from floor to ceiling. Only a small path wound its way through the boxes to the back of the room where Katelyn, Rachel, Carol and 10 volunteers were putting together Deer Creek resident boxes. The boxes were for each family that had signed up to live there, consisting of supplies that they would all need. Glenn was downstairs in the storage garage with Daryl and other volunteers who were organizing the weapons, gardening tools and equipment that was larger than the boxes allowed for.

"How's it going?" Rick asked, as he watched them dividing up the packets of seeds and bedding.

Rachel looked up and smiled.

"Hi stranger." She said flirtatiously.

"Hi Rick!" Katelyn said as she directed the volunteers to their next supply assignment.

"It's going…slowly but surely." Rachel said, stuffing the box with dish soap and silverware.

"How's it going at the site?" Katelyn asked, interested to know how much they were progressing. She'd spent the first few weeks out at the site helping, but as they came nearer to being able to actually move out there, they needed someone to organize the operational part of living there, and she was nominated.

Rachel had been organizing the clinic with supplies, thanks to Glenn who was in charge of a large number of soldiers who were scouting out and retrieving the larger items like mattresses and farming equipment they'd need in the spring. They ended up having to locate a group of abandoned semi -trucks on the interstate and getting them here to use for moving. That's when he'd come up with the idea of railroad cars for walls.

The railroad car idea had been an instant hit. Not only did they make excellent walls, but they also could be lived in. A crew of 50 had gone to the train yard and found a whole bunch of rail cars. Getting them to the site was the challenge, but they'd figured out how to get them on the back of a flatbed.

"It's going pretty well. Lots of stuff to do before spring but I figured that if we could get all of the preliminary stuff done, then people could start moving in about a month." Rick stated.

"There's that meeting tonight to discuss the creation of a council to act as a government for Deer Creek." Rachel said, hinting. "They're going to nominate people for mayor."

"Rick, you'd be a great mayor!" Katelyn said enthusiastically.

"I think I'll stick to law enforcement." Rick said.

"They're kind of one and the same these days. Besides, the people already look to you for leadership." Rachel offered, hoping he'd be inspired to agree.

Rachel already knew that the residents of Deer Creek had decided to nominate him, but she didn't say anything. She didn't want to spook him, but she knew he'd make a great mayor. She also believed that he felt too much responsibility to the success of Deer Creek to just hand it over to someone else. Especially if he didn't know them.

"How long do you think getting everything set up will take?" He asked them.

"It'll take a while. We have this going in stages at the moment where the basic needs come first, followed by more luxurious needs…like beds, then preparation for spring." Katelyn explained.

"Good thinking." Rick complimented, smiling at her.

Katelyn smiled back at Rick but suddenly her face fell into a frown as she looked over Rick's shoulder.

James and the soldier she punched were walking up.

Rick turned his head quickly to look at what Katelyn was frowning at and saw the two soldiers approaching. He didn't know who they were, but the look on Katelyn's face was enough to alarm him.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" Rick turned, stepping protectively in front of Katelyn.

"Yes sir. We'd like to speak with Katelyn if she'd agree." James said respectfully.

Rick's brows pulled together in a frown as he wondered if these were some of the men involved in the scuffle that'd happened a few weeks ago.

Rachel glanced sideways at Katelyn whose jaw was clenched as she slammed items into boxes.

"You okay?" Rachel whispered.

Katelyn nodded but it was obvious that she wasn't.

"Are those the guys?" Rachel asked.

Katelyn nodded.

"Oh." Rachel said, before adding, "Well, you have backup if you need it."

Katelyn smiled a little and said; "Thank you".

Katelyn took a deep breath and turned around to look at the two soldiers who were waiting awkwardly.

"You wanna talk to them, Kate?" Rick asked, looking them up and down.

Katelyn didn't answer, she just looked at them for a second.

"Please, ma'am. We'd like to apologize." James said, nudging the other one.

It was obvious that the one she'd hit didn't want to be there. He wasn't the least bit sorry.

Katelyn came out from behind the table they were working at to stand next to Rick.

"I'm really sorry, Katelyn. I truly am." James said sincerely. He really liked Katelyn. She was a sweetheart and she was wonderful with his son who lost his mother to the walker plague.

James turned and looked at Nate who stood silently beside him.

"I'm sorry ma'am." Nate said though he voice was clipped and cold.

Katelyn studied him for moment and shook her head.

"No you're not. The part that upsets me the most is that you don't even know Daryl. You judge him based on his appearance but you know nothing about him. That man…the one you were making fun of…spent months looking for a little girl who got separated from the group. No one else did. Just him. That man made sure we were fed every day. He saved our lives more times than I can count and there's not a member of our group who would say differently. He has fought tooth and nail to keep us all safe and would do the same for you. You might be the soldier, but he's the hero." Katelyn said passionately, tears coming to her eyes.

"How you feel about and treat women…that's between you and whatever woman is stupid enough to date you, but don't you dare talk badly about any of my family. They're way outta your league." She finished, her tone more fierce now.

Nate's eyes had narrowed to slits as he glared at her. There wasn't much of an audience, but there were enough listening and he felt his face turning red with humiliation.

She made him sound like a petty, immature asshole when all he was doing was blowing off steam. This bitch couldn't take a joke. Hell, he had been complimenting her. He couldn't help it if she got insulted. That wasn't his problem. That was hers. Now, she'd humiliated him and he was damn sure going to find a way to make her pay.

Fucking bitch.

James saw that Nate was getting mad and tensely thanked her before walking out the door with him.

Rick had a bad feeling about him.

"You all right?" Rick asked Katelyn who was shaking a little. She really didn't like conflict.

"I'll be fine. I'll just put all this energy into working and have a beer when I get back to the tent." She joked, smiling at Rick to set him at ease.

Rick patted her shoulder, squeezing it assuringly.

"Thanks for the backup." She told Rick and Rachel who looked like armed guards flanking her.

They both smiled and Rick turned to leave.

He needed to go find Daryl.

Heading outside, he found him with a group of 30 soldiers, teaching them how to kill the walkers and use the tactics they'd developed at the prison to ensure group safety. He waited until he was done speaking for a minute and walked over.

"What's up?" Daryl asked, looking over at Rick's concerned face.

"I need to talk to you." Rick said seriously.

Daryl stopped, turning the group over to Michonne and headed toward the a quiet area so they could talk.

"I just ran into the guy Kate decked. He came upstairs with James to apologize although it was obvious that he was being dragged. He wasn't sorry in the slightest. Katelyn called him on it and he got that look in his eyes…I have a bad feeling about this." Rick said.

Daryl felt the cold finger of rage creep into him. It was the kind that turned your blood to ice and steeled you against pity. He flexed his hands, feeling the tension that made him want to march inside and rip this guy apart.

"Did he do something we can report him for?" Daryl asked, trying to think past his anger.

"No. He apologized. She knew he didn't mean it and laid into him. When she was through, he looked like the pettiest asshole ever to walk the planet. It was the look in his eyes afterward. He's planning something." Rick said.

"What the hell did she say to him?" Daryl asked, wondering what Katelyn could have said that enfuriated him that badly.

"It wasn't mean. It was a passionate defense of you that made him look utterly ridiculous and he knew it. He knew how petty and immature it made him look and he was humiliated." Rick explained.

"Shit." Daryl swore, trying to run through his options. "How far do you think he'd take this?"

"I don't know but being here makes things complicated." Rick shrugged.

"Yeah. If we were back at the prison, we'd just kill his ass." Daryl spat, getting angrier by the minute.

"We watch and we wait…for now." Rick said, heading back inside with Daryl to find Merle and the others.

They needed to make a plan.


	13. Chapter 13

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Rick stood in surprised silence as the results from the "mayoral" issue of Deer Creek were announced. It was unanimous; the civilians all nominated him. Rachel patted him on the back, stopping to clap when everyone began. Daryl smirked when he saw Rick's face, but a part of him was worried that Rick wasn't up for it. He'd just been through too much and this was a major responsibility.

All of the Atlanta survivors patted him on the shoulder as they gathered around him to congratulate him, but Rick didn't feel like he'd won anything. He felt more like his coffin had just been sealed and he was being lowered into his grave.

"What say you? Do you accept the people's nomination?" Charlie Baker asked. Charlie had once been on the city council of Kansas City and ran the meeting as officially as he could.

Daryl looked at Rick, nudging him in the arm when they'd been waiting for a long time. Everyone else stared expectantly.

Rick's eyes were wide and unfocused as he grappled with the news. Rachel cringed, thinking she should probably have warned him before now. Slipping her arm in his, trying to look non-chalant so no one would notice that she was jostling him a bit so he'd snap out of it. Rick slowly turned his head to look at her and that's when Rachel realized that Rick was utterly shocked.

_Shit._ She thought to herself. _I definitely should have warned him._

"Let's give him some time to think about it, shall we?" Rachel said, trying to cover for him a bit and give him some time to calm down. "We can reconvene tomorrow."

With that, she led him out of the room, followed by Daryl who knew something was wrong, and the rest of the Atlanta group.

Taking him back to their tents, Rachel walked him inside and sat him down.

"You okay?" Rachel asked, pressing a glass a whiskey that Daryl poured for him the minute he got there.

"I can't. I can't do this. I can't go through this again." Rick mumbled, making Rachel look at Daryl with a worried expression that was mirrored by his own.

"Rick. Look...if you're gonna live in Deer Creek, you're gonna be part of what goes on there. I've only known you for a year now, but you're not the kinda guy to just sit back and let shit happen if you don't agree with it. One way or another, you're gonna be up in Deer Creek's business." Daryl said trying to get him to understand.

"I can't be responsible for all of those people...not after…everything." Rick said desperately, looking at Daryl.

Daryl felt bad for him, but he'd decided long ago that he had Rick's back and he meant it. No matter what.

"You're not alone. Every one of us is with you. We've all made the commitment to make Deer Creek a home. We're not gonna abandon you." Daryl insisted, letting him know that they were there for him.

Katelyn walked over beside Daryl quietly and smiled supportively at Rick.

"Rick. You've saved all of our lives…more than once. It's not really a choice. It's just who you are. You might as well make it official." Katelyn said softly.

Rick sighed. He knew what they were saying was true. He would take care of the people in need no matter who was in charge. He didn't know who else they'd nominate, but he knew after the past year of taking care of the survivors, he wouldn't ever be able to be someone else.

Rick smiled ironically and looked at Daryl with a cold smile.

"Well, if I'm gonna be mayor, then you get to be sheriff." Rick stated.

_Shit._ He'd walked right into that one.

Katelyn chuckled as Daryl ran his hand through his hair.

"I can't be no sheriff. Shit. Look who you're talking to" Daryl blurted out, laughing at the ridiculousness of that comment.

"You've already been sheriff, Daryl. You've protected this group just as much as I have. You've acted in the best interest of the group at every turn and that's what we need." Rick said, knowing that he couldn't do this job alone and Daryl had become a very valued member of the group. He'd proven himself time and again. Sure, he was hot tempered and could be ruthless, but he'd grown over the months and had learned to moderate his decisions. He'd separated himself from his brother's influence and now he was the leader in their family. Merle now looked to Daryl, and that's the mark of honor and integrity. The kind of man that people could depend on.

"I ain't wearin' no uniform." Daryl said, earning a chuckle from Katelyn, Rick and Rachel.

Rick nodded.

"All right. No uniform. We're a small enough community that everyone knows you." Rick agreed.

Everyone stared at him, waiting for an answer.

"All right fine. At least until we all get on our feet." Daryl said, swearing under his breath.

Katelyn squeezed his hand and kissed him on the cheek.

Rick and Daryl together were unstoppable and she was proud to know them.

#############################################################################

He watched from the woods, his binoculars up to his face. They'd put twenty railcars end to end, stretching across a portion of the unwalled development in a clever solution to both their housing issue as well as their need for a wall. They'd also built several longhouse style buildings and a bathhouse of sorts.

He had to give them credit; They were creative.

Taking out his notepad, he jotted down the number of civilians he saw and the buildings and services they had gotten up and running. He counted the soldiers as well but it was hard to get an accurate number because they worked in shifts. He jotted down who was in charge of what and even though he didn't know names on all of them, he described them so he wouldn't forget.

He knew that their new "mayor" was named Rick and that the 2 women who were training the soldiers in fighting the walkers were Andrea and Michonne. Andrea being the one that he helped out when the herd came. The one she'd been with that day was named Rachel. He didn't know the name of the one with the crossbow, but he was frequently sought out by others and spent a lot of time with Rick so he knew he held some sort of position as well.

Sliding the notepad into his pocket, he heard the sounds of a jeep and looked up. He raised his binoculars to look and saw Major Jackson Reese entering the Deer Creek development.

_Major Jackson Reese. Dozens of operations in Pakistan, Sudan, Kosovo, and Liberia. Two tours in Iraq, two in Afghanistan. Distinguished Service Medal, Medal of Honor, and a Bronze Star recipient. Thirty-seven years old. Parents deceased, two sisters condition unknown, one brother; Marine Force Recon, died in Afghanistan in 2010. Pregnant wife deceased from disease. Daughter, age 2, deceased from disease. Currently stationed in Colorado. Recently was in possession of viral DNA sequence via CDC doctor Madeline Hill. Current status: AWOL._

Major Jackson Reese was an enigma. You didn't find many guys with that kind of record, willing to risk it all by refusing orders and he needed to know why. That left only one option.

Shoving his things into his pack, Michael headed for his secret hideout so he could stash any gear that might give his identity away.

"All right, everyone. The semi's are here with furniture and other needed items. We are going to move it into your homes with those in need getting served first. I know that some of you are being housed together for now, but please be patient. We'll eventually have time to build more homes so that every family can have their own, but for now, we need to build the community. In a month, we'll be able to start digging up the soil and preparing it for planting." Rick said, looking out at the gathered people.

"When will we get power?" Benjamin Porter asked from the crowd.

"Power will hopefully be up and running within the next two weeks. We've situated the generators in the sheds and are working on hooking everyone up without burning out the generators. Right now, there are 10 buildings that have power, including this one and the community showers." Rick stated, earning him murmurs of approval.

"The next order of business is patrol and watch duty. We'll have a rotating schedule with those of you who've been trained. Training is going to be mandatory and so is watch duty. Once we have enough people trained, we'll be able to make it voluntary but for now, we need everybody to help out with this. Also, we've got two soldiers who have expertise in farming who will be coming to teach all of us and oversee the planting process in a month. They've been working with Glenn's team to get the necessary equipment." Rick continued.

"We have groups assigned to patrols this week while training goes on. Please, everyone sign up with myself or Michonne for walker training. We'd like children over the age of 8 to train as well. Just in case." Andrea stated when Rick gestured to her.

"All right. If no one has any pressing questions, you can all go. Remember, the semi's are out front and waiting. The soldiers are standing by to help carry your loads to your homes. Beds have already been dropped off. If you need keys, come see me and those of you who are staying in the longhouse bunks...see Tyreese. He's in charge of that." Rick called out.

Everyone filed out of the building to locate their stuff.


	14. Chapter 14

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Katelyn walked across Deer Creek, smiling as she looked around. Since the power wasn't up yet, they had no outdoor lights, so everyone built firepits so people could see outside at night. There was a curfew that went into effect at dark and soldiers patrolled the area so if there was an emergency, they could get help. Each house was outfitted with a walkie talkie in case of emergencies and someone was always monitoring the channels at the longhouse where they set up their headquarters.

The dim glow of fire pits lined the walls, casting flickering shadows along the rail cars. Katelyn realized how quiet it was outside and looked around her. Suddenly, the wall seemed very far away. Goosebumps raced up her arms as she headed straight for the wall where Daryl was patrolling. Katelyn looked over her shoulder, sure that she heard something behind her, but there was nothing there. Katelyn began to hurry now, picking up her speed and glancing over her shoulder so much, she didn't notice when she slammed into someone.

Katelyn would have fallen to the ground if someone's hands hadn't grabbed her. Stabilized, she looked up into the face of Nate and she shuddered. In the moonlight, the shadows made him look frightening.

"Woah there. Where are you going?" Nate asked, his tone condescending and smug.

Katelyn didn't know that Nate had been put on patrol duty and felt terror race through her, but she and Daryl had practiced this kind of situation. Her hand slid down to her knife. Thankfully, it was dark so Nate couldn't see her slide the dagger out of her scabbard.

"Huh? Where ya going? You're not supposed to be out here." He continued, licking his lips nervously and looking from side to side to see if anyone was around.

"To the wall. I'm delivering coffee. Daryl's expecting me." Katelyn bluffed. In truth, she was going to surprise Daryl.

"Really? I don't think so, now why don't I walk you back to your house…to make sure you're safe." Nate offered, his eyes narrowing. Now he knew that Daryl wasn't in their house.

"No. I can manage." She felt her fear turn into anger and she squared her shoulders.

"That wasn't a question. You're a civilian and there's a curfew so I'm gonna have to escort you home." Nate said sharply. How dare this bitch argue with him!

"I don't think **you** understand, Corporal. I am going to the wall and if you don't get out of my way and stop harassing me, I'll report you to the Major." She said bravely, even though her hands were shaking badly and her heart was racing.

"You got about 2 seconds to back the fuck off or I'm gonna shoot your ass then cut off your balls." Katelyn nearly burst out crying with relief when she heard Daryl's voice. She'd been so focused on the possibility of having to stab him that she hadn't even seen Daryl come up behind him.

"Come here, honey." Daryl said, nodding at Katelyn to get behind him while he held the crossbow up at eye level, ready at any minute to shoot him if he so much as twitched.

Katelyn hurried past Nate and behind Daryl, sliding her knife into the scabbard at her waist. She was shaking so badly, she couldn't get it in. It took three tries to sheath it, meanwhile, Rick and Andrea had approached.

"I take it you're the asshole who Katelyn had to deck?" Daryl asked, his voice gruff with fury. Moving closer to him, he stepped around so he could look him in the eye.

"I was just trying to make sure she was safe. It's past curfew and I offered to escort her back to your house." Nate stated smoothly. He was good at manipulation but Daryl was immune to his "charms".

"You're so full a shit I can smell it from here." Daryl spat.

"You can even ask your girl here. What'd I say honey?" He was condescending and even Andrea snorted with irritation. This guy was a prick.

"You call her honey again and I'll slit your throat. The only thing keepin' you alive right now is the fact that Katelyn's standing here." Daryl threatened, his voice turning deadly. Kate had never heard him sound quite like that and she shivered.

"Listen…I was just patrolling and saw someone walking alone and came to provide a safe escort. You're totally overreacting." Nate tried another approach. This one didn't fly with Daryl either.

"You ain't on the list of soldiers who are spose ta be here. Let's walk over to the longhouse and call the Major and see if I'm right." Daryl stated, stepping back so Rick could cuff him.

"I don't need those for god's sake." Nate sighed in exasperation.

"Come on." Rick said, tugging on the cuffs to get him walking while Daryl stopped Katelyn for a moment.

"You okay?" He asked, looking her up and down. He could see that she was shaking, but she didn't seem to showing signs of a panic attack.

"Yeah." She said, trying to calm her trembling hands and reeling head.

"You're shaking. Here…" HE said, as he took off his coat and slung it over her shoulders.

As he wrapped the coat around her, she stepped into the warmth of him and put her arms around him, laying her head on his chest. He immediately wrapped his arms around her.

"You drew your knife." He stated, impressed that she had enough presence of mind to pull it.

She nodded into his chest.

"You did well. I heard voices from over here and came to investigate. That's when I saw you. I didn't know who the hell the guy was but I could see your face. I knew something was wrong." Daryl explained.

She squeezed him tighter in response.

"Come on. Let's go in the longhouse and figure out what the hell we're gonna do with this asshole." Daryl said, taking her hand and leading her into the building.

Nate was sitting in the chair next to the table where the radio was. Rick was on the walkie with the Major when they walked in.

"So he wasn't on the roster?" Rick confirmed. "Thank you, Major. We'll keep him locked up til your guys get here to pick him up."

Nate rolled his eyes.

Rage hit Daryl immediately as he realized how dangerous this guy actually.

By this time, a few other soldiers heard the commotion and entered the building to see if they could help. Rick looked over at Daryl and saw the look on his face and set the walkie down.

"Daryl. I got this one. You take Katelyn home. The MP's are coming to pick him up." Rick said, trying to head off the explosion he saw coming. Daryl's face was tense and his fists were clenched.

One of the soldiers that came into the building knew about the situation and when he saw Nate sitting there and Katelyn and Daryl just inside the door, he immediately went over to stand in front of Nate. He saw the look on Daryl's face and Katelyn was sheet white so he knew this wasn't good. Looking over at Rick, he nodded at him acknowledging that he'd watch him while Rick talked to Daryl.

"Daryl. Take Kate home. We've got it. In the morning, we'll go in and talk to Jackson about it. Okay?" Rick had his hands on Daryl's shoulders looking him in the eye.

"Please Daryl?" Katelyn asked, trying to calm him down. He seemed calm until they walked into the longhouse and he realized that he had snuck out to come here and hadn't even been posted by mistake. He knew it had been planned and he was ready to murder this guy.

Daryl looked at Kate's face which was drawn and tired looking now, her skin pale.

"Take her home." Rick emphasized again.

Daryl took one more look at him, threatening him with his eyes and walked out of the longhouse, Katelyn in tow.

He nearly kicked the door open when they got to the house. Stomping inside, he almost threw his crossbow across the counter but Katelyn grabbed it before it fell on the floor. With his hands on his hips he started pacing.

"Daryl." Katelyn said softly, trying to get him to look at her but he was livid.

"Honey?" Katelyn walked over to him and put her hand lightly on his arm.

Daryl paused, closing his eyes as he tried to get his anger under control.

"I'm gonna kill him. He's not coming anywhere near you again." Daryl said passionately, finally looking up at Kate.

Both of them turned their heads when they heard footsteps on the stairs coming down.

"What the hell is going on?" Merle asked gruffly, his voice rough from sleep.

Katelyn looked at Merle, her face obviously concerned, alerting Merle to the fact that something was wrong.

"Hey…little bro. What's up?" Merle asked, walking straight over to him, his body tense now.

"That fucking asshole that Kate decked…he's here. He snuck out of the school to come here. He…he approached Kate…waited til night and no one was around to mess with her." Daryl bit out angrily.

"Woah…what?" Merle was trying to understand. He looked at Katelyn with confusion.

"I was brining coffee out to Daryl on the wall and he came out of nowhere to try to…I don't even know what he wanted. He wanted to bring me back to the house. When I said 'no', he insisted." Katelyn said, trying to figure out what he'd been planning on doing as well.

"That doesn't make sense. If he wanted to get you alone, why would he bring you here?" Merle asked.

Katelyn shrugged.

"Cuz he didn't know you'd be there. He probably assumes you're living in the longhouses with the other single guys." Daryl stated, interlacing his hands and resting them on his head now.

Katelyn wrapped Daryl's coat tighter, suddenly chilled.

"He still here?" Merle asked casually.

"Yeah. He's in the main longhouse with Rick. Some MP's are comin' for him." Daryl said, looking over at Katelyn who had her arms wrapped around herself protectively. He could tell she was exhausted and scared and walked over to stand behind her. Wrapping his arms around her from behind, he moved his hands on her arms to rub some warmth back into them.

"Why don't you go up and go to bed?" He whispered in her ear.

She shook her head. He knew she wasn't going to go to bed until he came with her so he tightened his grip on her so she rested her back against his chest.

"We'll talk in the morning." Merle said, noticing Katelyn's pale face and Daryl's concern at the moment.

Daryl nodded and took her hand to lead her upstairs. Pausing, he turned and quickly grabbed his crossbow off the counter.

"Good night Merle." Katelyn said, smiling at him.

"Don't you worry about anything. I'll make sure this asshole doesn't cause any more problems tonight." Merle said as the two of them went upstairs.

_Oh yeah. Old Merle 'l make sure he doesn't cause problems ever again._


	15. Chapter 15

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Rick and Daryl entered the Major's office the next morning. Everyone in his office knew what it was about so when they showed up, it went completely quiet. James, who had been standing inside, saw them enter and knew it couldn't be good. He'd already heard about what the Corporal had done the night before and couldn't believe he would be so stupid. The girl was gone. There was no reason to even give it one more minute worth of thought, but obviously, the Corporal couldn't let it go.

He was lucky they didn't kill him.

"Come on in." the Major called out, waving them into his office.

"Mornin'." Rick said as he and Daryl walked in.

"Good morning." Jackson responded grimly. He'd been thinking about this all night and couldn't figure out what to do with him.

Rick sat in the chair Jackson directed him to while Daryl opted to stand, leaning against the wall. He looked incredibly pissed and Jackson didn't blame him.

"So what do we do with him?" Rick asked, getting straight to the point.

"I say we execute his ass." Daryl piped in.

The Major sighed. He knew how Daryl felt so it wasn't a surprise.

"He hasn't actually done anything that would warrant that." Major Reese stated.

"He snuck out of his base to stalk my girlfriend!" Daryl exploded furiously.

"Daryl, hold up a minute." Rick said, trying to calm him down.

"I know and he'll be dealt with for breaking curfew. He's been issued an order to stay away from Katelyn. He is not allowed to leave the base at all so you don't have to worry about that." Jackson stated.

"He wasn't allowed to leave before and he still showed up to harass her!" Daryl shouted, thinking this whole thing was ridiculous. "I'm telling you that if that son of a bitch comes anywhere near us again, I'll fucking kill him myself."

Jackson sighed. He didn't think he'd feel any differently if he was in Daryl's shoes, but he couldn't justify anything more than what he'd given him as punishment. He didn't actually do anything.

"I understand how you feel. I do, but the fact is he hasn't actually done anything." Jackson cringed, knowing that Daryl was going to fly off the handle at that one.

"He's stalking her!" Daryl shouted.

"One incident doesn't make a stalker, Daryl. I'm sorry. I wish there was more I could do." Jackson said, sighing.

"This is bullshit! He's dangerous and you know it! What…is it gonna take a dead body to convince you!? Well, fuck that! He so much as blinks her way and he's dead!" Daryl roared, slamming out of the office and heading for the truck.

Rick looked at Jackson.

"Keep him away from her or be prepared to bury him." Rick warned. He'd come way too far and been through far too much to think this could go down any other way. Just like the situation at the prison…it was his family or them, and he'd be damned if he was going to let anything happen to his family.

Rick stood and followed Daryl out the door leaving Jackson with a pit in his stomach.

"Shit." Jackson said quietly.

This wasn't going to be good.

################################################################################

Rick and Daryl drove silently down the road, heading back to Deer Creek. Rick was about to say something when both of them spotted a man fighting 3 walkers in a field. Stomping on the brakes, the tires squealed as they came to a halt. Rick and Daryl jumped out of the car, racing toward the field where the man was fighting.

About 20 feet from the man, Daryl stopped, lifted his crossbow and pulled the trigger, nailing one of the walkers in the head while Rick raced up and swung his axe straight at the walker's head. The walker dropped instantly and Rick pulled his axe, ready to swing again, but the man had already felled the last one.

Daryl came trotting up.

"You aight?" Daryl asked, coming up to stand next to them.

"Yeah. Thanks." The mysterious man said.

Daryl looked him up and down. He wore a pair of khakis and a hunting shirt with a coat. Hanging from his belt was a gun and he held a metal pole that had been sharpened into a spear.

"Rick Grimes." He said, holding out his hand.

"Michael Eaton." The man answered, gratefully shaking Rick's hand.

"This is Daryl." Rick said, nodding at Daryl who stood with his crossbow slung over his shoulder.

Daryl nodded back.

"You need some help?" Rick asked.

"Well," He said, pausing to look around, "I could sure use some food if you've got it."

"I think we can help with that." Rick said but Daryl frowned.

He didn't trust this guy.

"Come on." Rick said, motioning for him to follow.

He hopped in the back of the truck while Daryl and Rick got in the cab.

"You think this is a good idea?" Daryl asked, looking at Rick.

"We don't know the 78 people we're gonna be living with any better than this guy so I'm not seeing that much difference." Rick shrugged.

Daryl nodded. That made sense, but he still didn't like the guy.

Rick turned into the development and the men on gate duty allowed him to pass. Driving straight to "The bunks" as they were called, he parked and hopped out. Tyreese came out of one of the bunks to see who'd pulled up and smiled when he saw Rick.

Michael climbed down, looking around at what they'd done. He was impressed. They'd created quite a little community here.

"Tyreese, this is Michael Eaton." Rick introduced them, the two shaking hands.

"Nice to meet you." Michael said, reslinging his heavy pack on his back.

"Well, come on, lets go get you situated." Tyreese said hospitably.

Daryl and Rick watched him walk inside.

"We're gonna have problems." Daryl said ominously.

"From him?" Rick asked.

"From anyone. We're gonna need to decide on how far we're gonna go to protect everyone here." Daryl stated, seeing how out of control this could get.

"Things here are different." Rick said.

"Are they?" Daryl asked.

"Can we afford to think the same way we did back at the prison?" Rick asked, trying to figure out where his boundaries lay.

"Can we afford to not think that way?" Daryl asked before putting his hands on his hips and looking down at the dirt while he gathered his thoughts. "I don't know, Rick. It's one thing to keep a group of 10 or so alive. It's a whole other ballgame now."

Daryl looked up into Rick's eyes intensely and Rick sighed.

He knew exactly what Daryl was getting at.

"I gotta go hook up those lines today. We'll talk later." Daryl said, patting Rick on the shoulder as he headed to his house to get his tools.

Rick watched him go, a feeling of dread settling in his bones.


	16. Chapter 16

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Daryl stretched his back, taking a sip of his coffee as he watched the sun rise on the horizon. He fully intended on going hunting this morning, but he needed a cup of coffee in him first. He heard the door open softly behind him and felt Katelyn's arm snake around his waist from behind, as she leaned her head against his back.

"Mornin'." She said sleepily, taking a deep breath.

"Mornin'." He replied, laying his arm on top of hers.

"You leaving?" Kate asked, yawning as she did.

"Soon." He said, pulling her around to the front so he could look at her.

"Be careful. It's getting warmer so the walkers aren't as slow." Katelyn warned, laying her head on his chest.

"Rick's comin…so's Merle. We'll be all right." He said, kissing the top of her head.

"Good. I feel a little better that you'll have someone watchin' your back." She said, looking up at him.

"Did I hear my name?" Rick said, walking around the corner, smiling at both of them.

Katelyn turned to look and chuckle. Daryl nodded, pausing when he saw Michael tagging along behind Rick.

"I asked Michael to join us since he knows the area really well." Rick stated.

"Coffee?" Katelyn asked them, not noticing the frown on Daryl's face.

"Sure." Rick said, thanking her as she looked at Michael.

"No thank you." Michael stated, smiling at her.

"Be right back." Katelyn said, disappearing into the house.

"Load your gear in the truck. We're headin' out in five." Daryl said, looking Michael up and down.

Katelyn returned with coffee for Rick, handing it to him with a smile just as Merle started walking across the street.

"You guys ready, or are we gonna stand around cluckin' like hens?" Merle called out.

"Throw your shit in the back, Merle." Daryl stated grumpily. Merle heard the tone and looked straight at Michael, knowing exactly why his brother was in a bad moon.

Merle tossed his gear in the back, walking over to Daryl.

"He comin'?" Merle whispered.

"Guess so." Daryl stated.

Rick and Michael walked around the other side of the truck and climbed in, while Merle got into the vehicle. Daryl trotted back over to the porch to kiss Katelyn who stood, watching them get ready to go.

"Love you." She said softly, smiling up at him.

"I'll be fine." Daryl chuckled, knowing that's what she wanted to say.

Smirking back at him, she swatted him on the rear end as he walked away.

"Love ya." Daryl called out, winking at her as he climbed into his truck.

Katelyn stood on the porch as she watched them drive away. Her eye wandered to a lone soldier who stood watching but she dismissed it, knowing that patrols were still roaming the neighborhood. Wrapping her robe around her, she went back in the house to relax until the baby awakened.

##################################################################################

It was 10:00 a.m. when the Major pulled into Deer Creek. The moment he'd found out that Nate was AWOL, he knew he needed to warn Daryl. Hopping out of the jeep, he headed for their door, knocking.

Katelyn answered with a smile, holding baby Hope in her arms. She hadn't seen the Major in quite a while.

"Major! Come on in." She said, opening the door to him.

"I can't stay long, but I need to talk with Daryl for a minute." He said, nervously, trying to avoid worrying Katelyn. He was sure it was nothing, but he didn't feel right not giving them a head's up.

"He went hunting with Rick and Merle." She stated, "Can I help?"

"Nah. It's no big deal. Have him call me on the radios when he gets back, will ya?" He asked, smiling at her.

"Sure." Katelyn said. "Sure you can't stay?"

"No, unfortunately, I've gotta get back to base." Jackson said, wiggling his finger at Hope.

"I'll let him know." Katelyn said, walking him to the door.

"Thanks! See you later." He said, hopping back in his jeep as he waved at her.

Guilt nagged at him for not telling her, but he didn't want her to be overly anxious and have a panic attack so he made the decision not to. He hoped it wasn't the wrong decision as he pulled out of the driveway.

Katelyn closed the door with a frown on her face. Something was wrong and the Major didn't want to tell her. She didn't know what it was, but she'd make sure to tell Daryl when he got home. Katelyn turned around, heading back to the kitchen. She set Hope down in a playpen they'd found while she grabbed the list of requests from citizens that she needed to take care of today.

She was supposed to meet Andrea in an hour to go to the warehouse where they were storing all of the planting supplies. It was almost spring so they were getting those ready and tagging them with where they needed to be taken. The best ground for planting was in the field behind the houses where the makeshift wall was. They'd soon be tilling the soil there, but she was concerned with getting everyone set up with gardening equipment.

She got up to grab her other lists when she heard a noise coming from the hallway and paused to listen. Not hearing anything, she shook her head and grabbed her list. Getting back to concentrating, she heard the noise again but this time, she was sure. Standing up, she slowly approached the hallway, pausing midway down to listen again. She couldn't tell what the noise was or where it was coming from exactly, but she knew she heard something.

Peeking into the first room, she saw nothing and turned to leave when a hand went around her face, grabbing her backward and yanking her off her feet. Screaming without sound, she clawed at the hand, trying to remove it, but couldn't. They were too strong. Twisting, she lashed out with her foot, but only connected with her attackers thigh. The arm that was around her face slid lower, cutting off her air by putting her in a chokehold. Katelyn struggled for all she was worth, but was quickly running out of air. Her eyes locked on the playpen in the kitchen just as everything went black.


	17. Chapter 17

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

He didn't know where they'd gone, but the minute he'd arrived, he'd watched, planning his revenge. When he saw that redneck asshole come out, loading up the truck, he knew it was going to be his lucky day.

He was patient as he watched, the tingling sensation of excitement making it difficult, but he knew that he was finally going to get his chance. He'd easily opened the back door, slipping quietly inside while they were out front talking. He'd heard the voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying. That other asshole, Rick, and the redneck's hillbilly brother, Merle were going with him. He didn't know the other guy, but he'd seen him somewhere before, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Shrugging off the feeling, he focused on his true purpose; the world had gone to shit and there were no rules anymore.

He slung that bitch, Katelyn, over his shoulder and made his way to the wall behind their house. No guards were out there, he'd made sure, so it was easy to throw a ladder up and climb with her. Sliding her down the other side, he smiled when her body hit the ground as he hopped down beside her. The wall would certainly keep walkers out, but anyone determined to get over it, could easily scale this wall.

Grabbing her once again, he headed out into the woods.

##################################################################################

Daryl walked slowly, stepping quietly on the deer worn path, pausing for a moment to listen. He could see Rick and Michael about 100 feet away, moving the same direction and knew Merle would be on his other side a little farther out. Seeing a perfect perch to hide downwind of it, he headed silently for it while motioning with his hand to the other hunters.

Crouching down behind the bushes, he waited.

The group didn't have long, when Daryl heard a slight rustling of the leaves. His eyes focused in, piercing the thick foliage, as the brown muzzle of an animal appeared. Slowly, he lifted his crossbow and waited.

It's head emerged and Daryl swore.

"Shit!" Daryl bit out, standing up to walk forward.

It was a cow.

Merle walked out behind it and smirked at Daryl.

"That's some fine trackin' there, little brother." Merle snickered as Daryl rolled his eyes at him.

"Shut up." Daryl snapped, irritated.

Rick and Michael came up, nodding their heads.

"Hey. We can eat a cow. This isn't a bad thing." Rick said, scratching his head.

Merle laughed.

Michael reached into his pack and grabbed some rope and looped it around the cow's head, cowboy style.

"It's gonna be a lot easier to lead it through the woods, than carry it." Michael said, tugging on the rope gently.

The cow began to walk forward, leaving Daryl standing behind it, shaking his head at himself.

"I'm gonna go pick up that trail. I'll see you guys back at the camp." Daryl said, waving them on.

"I'll join ya." Merle said, not wanting to spend any more time with Rick and that other asshole.

Rick nodded and headed back to camp with Michael and the cow.

Daryl and Merle headed back into the woods.

###############################################################################

Katelyn awoke to pain in her wrists and arms. Lifting her head groggily, she winced when shooting pain shot through her head. Opening her eyes, she blinked a few times to focus them and tried to move but couldn't. Her wrists were tied to two ropes that had been strung between two trees, stretched outward painfully. She hung limply, her legs trailing on the ground below. Looking around, she saw Nate squatting next to a small fire, stirring the embers.

When he turned, she quickly closed her eyes, pretending to be unconscious still.

Nate stood up, walking over to Katelyn and grabbed the hair in the front of her head, lifting her head to look at her face. She should have been awake by now and he was getting impatient.

Katelyn was scared to death. She was frantically controlling her breathing so that she'd appear unconscious but she was shivering with fear. It was all she could do not to call out when he grabbed her hair to look at her face.

He let her head fall back down and felt him testing her ropes. Her mind quickly concocted a plan. She knew that Daryl wasn't even going to get home before the next morning so she was going to have to save herself somehow.

Going through all of Daryl's instructions in her head, she forced herself to calm down. She felt Nate lean in towards her face and reacted immediately, pulling her head back and hitting him with it for all she was worth.

Nate inhaled a breath sharply as he forehead connected with his nose ferociously, breaking the bone instantly and causing him to cry out. Not wasting any time, she used the ropes to hang from and lifted both of her legs and struck him with both feet, right in the face, knocking him out.

She was lucky enough that he dropped to his knees, reeling from the kick to the face. She lifted her legs once more and brought them down hard on the back of his head, knocking him flat. She knew she only had minutes, maybe even seconds, so she lifted one leg, stretching it as high as she could so that it would be close enough to her hand that she could pull the knife from her boot.

Sliding it out, she frantically started sawing the knife back and forth on her rope. It was difficult because she had to twist her hand around, causing the rope to dig into her already raw wrists. Crying out, she sawed back and forth until the rope snapped. Looking down at Nate, she hurried to sever the other rope that was tied around her wrist and then ran as fast as she could, disappearing into the forest.

##############################################################################

Daryl followed the deer trail, silently. He saw the beds they make when they sleep at night as they lay on the tall prairie grass and knew they wouldn't be far. Crouching down behind a tall tuft, he scanned the area carefully, looking for movement.

Seeing nothing, he moved on.

It wasn't more than a half hour when he stumbled onto a recently used camp. The fire still burned, and things were strewn about. He saw ropes tied to two trees and walked over to them. The ends seemed to have been severed and there were lots of footprints on the ground between the trees.

Daryl frowned.

Something wasn't right.

Looking around, Daryl saw that there had been a scuffle. Squatting, he whistled for Merle who came jogging over. Daryl put his hand down on a wet spot on the ground and then drew it up to look at it.

Blood.

"What is it?" Merle asked, looking down at him.

"It looks like someone was tied up and there's blood here." Daryl stated, showing Merle his fingers.

"Walkers?" Merle asked.

"I don't think so." Daryl said, looking around again before he stood up and walked over to the pack that was lying on the ground.

Digging through it, he saw the military issue equipment and paused.

"This shit is military." Daryl said, looking up at Merle.

"Someone from the base maybe?" Merle asked, thinking aloud.

"Maybe." Daryl said as he frowned.

Standing up, Daryl started tracking the staggering trail of the person who bled all over the campsite. He could clearly tell that they were tracking someone who was running from them. Since the ropes had been cut, he was guessing that someone had been captured and had escaped, doing some damage to the captor in the process.

Daryl paused for a moment, noting the size of the footprint who ran off. It was much smaller than the other set causing Daryl to frown. That meant, this guy was tracking either a child or a woman.

He didn't like either possibility.

"The guy's tracking a kid or a woman." Daryl said, looking at Merle.

"There was blood on the ground. You think some kid managed to make a full grown man bleed?" Merle asked, questioning his tracking skills.

"Think about Carl. It's possible." Daryl stated.

Merle shrugged.

"Maybe." Merle said, not necessarily agreeing with him.

"The guy's in rough shape. He's staggering all over. That was a lot of blood back there." Daryl said.

"Broken nose, probably. Easiest shot to take someone out." Merle stated.

Daryl nodded.

Daryl started walking, following the trail again, with Merle falling in behind.


	18. Chapter 18

WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Katelyn scrambled, using her hands to grip the wet rock she climbed, gripping it tightly in her painful hands. It had started to rain and hour ago, leaving her shivering and cold as she crested the top of the small cliff. Pulling herself over the ledge, she lay on her stomach for a minute before turning around so she could keep an eye on the ground below.

She knew that Nate would be trying to track her and would lose her trail with the rain, so she thought she'd circle back behind him and try to figure out where she was. She would have to make her way back to Deer Creek on her own. Daryl wouldn't even know she was missing until tomorrow, but Carol and Andrea might come check on her when she didn't show up for sorting the equipment for spring.

They'd knock and hopefully, when she didn't answer, they'd go in and see…._Oh god! Hope_. She thought, causing tears to spring to her eyes.

Katelyn's lip began trembling as she thought about poor little Hope. She had to be scared out of her mind and was probably screaming. Katelyn's hand flew to her chest as she began to feel panic hit her.

"No, no, no, no." She mumbled to herself over and over again, trying to calm herself. "Breathe, Katelyn. Daryl would tell you to breathe."

Katelyn squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to calm down. If she was ever going to get back to Hope, she had to keep her wits about her. Daryl wasn't going to show up and save her. She was going to have to save herself. This is what he'd been trying to teach her and he believed in her.

Pushing herself up, she looked around for a large tree she could climb. Heading for it, she began pulling herself into the large branches, inching higher, until she found a good perch. Carefully standing, she peered out of the foliage, looking over the top of the forest below. Her eyes came to rest on a road far off in the distance. Locking the image into her mind, she climbed back down and began walking that way, listening for Nate was she moved carefully.

################################################################################

Daryl lost the trail of the child and stopped. He could clearly see the full grown man's trail kept going forward, but the child's disappeared.

Looking around, he immediately saw the wet rock formation that rose above them on the hill and smiled.

Clever kid.

He saw the mud their shoe had wiped on one of the jagged rocks and brushed it off so that if the other man came back here, he wouldn't find it. Slinging his crossbow over his shoulder he grabbed the ledge and pulled himself upward.

Daryl reached the top and dropped a hand down to help Merle climb the last part.

"The kid?" Merle asked, wondering which one of two had climbed up here.

"Yeah." Daryl said, thinking that someone had to have taught that tactic to the kid like he'd taught Katelyn.

"Come on." Daryl said, heading down the trail left behind by the smaller set of footprints.

They traveled for only twenty minutes when they noticed that the footprints were heading back down the slope and realized that the child would intersect the man hunting him and began to hurry.

"Why the hell would the kid turn back toward him?" Merle asked incredulously.

Daryl looked around.

"Quickest way to the road." Daryl suggested, causing Merle to shake his head.

"Stupid." Merle muttered.

"Not sure there's another choice if he wants ta get out of here." Daryl said, shrugging.

"Let's go fetch him before he gets himself killed." Merle said in an annoyed tone.

Daryl nodded and the two headed off after the trail.

##################################################################################

He hated her.

More than he'd ever hated anyone.

That bitch had broken his face. He could see the swelling in his face by just looking down. The bridge of his nose was barely perceptible and one of his eyes was nearly swollen shut. He was sure that his orbital bone was broken as well as his nose.

He was gonna kill her and enjoy doing it.

He squatted down to listen and wasn't disappointed. He heard breaking branches and rustling leaves up ahead and waited watchfully as Katelyn slowly crept out of the foliage.

She was being cautious, slowly edging her way through the woods, heading back north toward the highway. She ducked branches and stepped over sticks on the ground, avoiding making a lot of noise. Waiting for her to move a little farther away, he began inching forward, only moving when she moved so that she wouldn't hear him approach.

He followed her like that for nearly a quarter of a mile before he got within striking distance.

Hiding behind a tree, he waited until she began to move again and launched into a full sprint. Before Katelyn could do anything, he tackled her from behind, slamming her into the ground. Letting loose a bloodcurdling scream, she began to fight for her life.

Pushing up, she managed to tumble him to the side and began scrambling to get out from under him, but he grabbed her hair and yanked her head back, choking the scream from her. Twisting away, she grabbed his hand and kicked as hard as she could, connecting with his neck and causing him to let go of her hair.

Jumping to her feet, she turned to run, but he grabbed her ankle, causing her to crash to the ground. Screeching, she blindly kicked backward and he yanked her down to him. Leaping on top of her, he now lay with his entire body pressed against her. She couldn't move his weight, but attempted to bash the back of her head into his already battered face but he grabbed her head and smashed it into the ground.

Stunned for a moment, Katelyn struggled to fight off the pain.

#################################################################################

Daryl heard the scream and froze.

That sounded like Katelyn, but he knew there was no way it could be her. She was at home with Hope, seeing to the colony of survivors.

"Which way?" Daryl asked, looking at Merle.

Merle pointed and both of them took off running toward the noise.

Daryl burst through the bushes, just as Nate smashed Katelyn into a tree, knocking her head against it and causing her to drop to the ground. He was stunned for a moment, seeing Katelyn lying on the ground and Nate, the psycho, standing there. It only took a second though, and he launched himself through the air.

Tackling Nate to the ground, Daryl started pummeling him violently. Nate curled up in a ball, unable to defend himself against the vicious attacks. Daryl growled as he launch another series of hits to the face until Nate was gurgling and laying there limply.

"He's done! Daryl! He's done!" Merle yelled, grabbing his brother to haul him off of the bloody and broken soldier.

"I'll fuckin' kill 'im!" Daryl screamed, kicking him before Merle could pull him back far enough away that he couldn't connect."

Merle spun him around to look him in the face.

"Daryl! He's done! You need to see to Katelyn!" Merle shouted, shaking Daryl to snap him out of it.

Daryl sucked in his breath, wiping his hand across his mouth and looked at Merle. Merle grabbed Daryl's neck with his hand and pulled him forward, patting him on the back.

"He's done." Merle said, trying to calm him down a bit before he went to see to Katelyn.

Turning his head, Daryl nodded, looking over at Katelyn who was groggily pushing herself to her feet. Stumbling as she struggled to her feet, she glanced over at the ground and saw Daryl. Her face contorted in confusion, not quite comprehending what was happening.

She blinked her eyes trying to get them to focus as she thought she was hallucinating but he was still there when she opened her eyes.

"Daryl?" She gasped softly, stumbling forward.

Daryl moved forward, wrapping his arms around her, cupping her head to pull it into his chest.

"Are you okay?" Daryl said, pushing her out to arms length so he could look her over.

Seeing the cut on her forehead from where he smashed her head into the tree, he looked into her glazed eyes to see if she was lucid.

"I…I…" She tried to explain but she knew her words weren't coming out right.

Daryl put his arm around her and moved her over to a boulder to sit her down.

"Look at me." He said softly, tilting her face up.

He could tell that she was dazed and the huge goose egg that was forming on her forehead worried him.

"Can you walk?" He asked her, still looking at her face, studying it for signs of serious injury.

Katelyn's eyes started to water as a tear slipped down her cheek. Daryl wiped it away with his thumb.

"Kate? Can you walk?" Daryl asked her again, waiting for her to answer.

"Y..yes." She answered, looking up at him, still not sure he was real.

Daryl lifted her to her feet, careful to block her view of Nate who lay on the ground.

"I'll take care of it." Merle said, catching Daryl's eye.

Daryl looked at Nate one last time and nodded, as he started walking away.

Daryl walked slowly with her, helping her find her footing. He had about a thousand questions, but knew he wasn't going to get any answers right now. Somehow, that animal had kidnapped her, dragged her into the forest, and she'd fought him off and escaped.

He was proud of her.

They walked silently for a ways before her knees buckled. Daryl grabbed her, easing her down to the ground and squatted in front of her.

"Take your time." He said, trying to figure out how to get her back to the camp.

"He came in the house…Hope….Hope…." She babbled, looking up at him with a look of terror.

Daryl's breath caught in his throat as he imagined the worst.

"Where's Hope, Katelyn?" Daryl asked breathlessly.

"Sh…she was in her playpen. I couldn't breathe and he dragged me out. I woke up in the woods." She rambled.

Daryl breathed a sigh of relief.

"She's there, Daryl. By herself…alone." Katelyn burst out crying as she imagined her in the kitchen, wondering where her mommy was.

"Shhh…shh….she's okay. She's okay. We'll hurry back to camp and jump in the truck and drive back. It's only been a few hours." Daryl said, helping her stand up but her legs were weak.

"I can't. You go. Hurry back. Get her. I'm too slow." Katelyn said strongly.

Daryl shook his head no.

"I mean it, Daryl! Go! Get Hope!" Katelyn was almost hysterical as she tried to get him to go to their daughter and leave her here.

"I'll be fine. You point me toward the camp and I'll keep walking." She said, pushing him.

"Katelyn, I'm not leaving you here!" Daryl argued, unwilling to leave her behind.

"Daryl. I can defend myself against walkers. You already took care of Nate. There's no one else here to hurt me, but Hope is sitting there, alone and scared. Please" She begged him.

Daryl didn't know what to do, but the look in her eyes told him that if something happened to Hope and he didn't go, she'd never forgive him.

Daryl took off his crossbow and handed it to her.

"You keep this with you. I will run ahead and leave marks on my way. You follow them straight back to the camp. I'll send Rick back to get you when I get there." Daryl said passionately, leaning in to kiss her.

"I love you." Daryl said before taking off into the woods.

Katelyn watched him leave, praying that he'd get there in time.

"Please let Hope be okay." She whispered to the air.


End file.
